IMF approves second review of Argentina program, unlocking US$1 billion disbursement
Argentina is the IMF’s largest debtor. Its obligations to the Fund exceed $57 billion, accounting for 34.5% of the institution’s outstanding loans, and grew 36% over the past twelve months
The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday reached a staff-level agreement with Argentina on the second review of the country’s extended fund facility, clearing the way for a disbursement of approximately $1 billion pending approval by the Fund’s executive board. With this tranche, Argentina will have received roughly $15 billion of the $20 billion agreed in April 2025, Reuters reported.
Reform momentum has significantly strengthened in recent months, the IMF said in a statement, highlighting legislative approval of the 2026 budget and reforms covering labor markets, mining, trade agreements and the formalization of financial assets. The Fund also praised improvements to the monetary and exchange rate framework, with Central Bank foreign currency purchases exceeding $5.5 billion so far this year.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo welcomed the deal from Washington, where he led negotiations during the IMF’s spring meetings. This agreement is a very important step in consolidating the macroeconomic stability we have worked on for two years and will help strengthen our country’s economic growth, he posted on social media.
Argentina is the IMF’s largest debtor. Its obligations to the Fund exceed $57 billion, accounting for 34.5% of the institution’s outstanding loans, and grew 36% over the past twelve months. The current program — the 23rd agreement between the two parties — was signed to refinance an earlier $44.5 billion loan granted in 2018, the largest in the Fund’s history. With no access to international debt markets, Argentina faces $3.6 billion in IMF maturities this year.
During the first review, completed in July 2025, the board approved a $2 billion disbursement but had to grant a waiver for Argentina’s failure to meet its net reserve accumulation target, which was subsequently relaxed for future quarters.
The agreement comes one day after national statistics agency INDEC reported March inflation of 3.4%, the highest monthly reading in a year and the tenth consecutive month of acceleration. President Javier Milei called the figure bad and said it disgusts him, but insisted he would not alter his economic plan. We are going to pull every peso off the street until the inflation rate collapses. We will not yield one inch on monetary policy, he said Tuesday at a US Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) event.
The economic picture shows mixed signals. The IMF projects 3.5% growth for Argentina in 2026 in its latest global outlook, but year-on-year inflation stands at 32.6%, unemployment reached 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and labor informality climbed to 43%. Polls show growing social discontent and a sharp decline in government approval.
