Economy Minister Sergio Massa closed his visit to the United States on Monday with two high-profile meetings in Washington: a meeting with the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and another at the Treasury that had a surprise off the agenda: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who asked him to implement the necessary reforms to regain confidence in Argentina.
Yellen was at the meeting about 30 minutes, according to the minister. They greeted each other, had the required photo and then continued the work with the other officials. At the end of the meeting and before a consultation of Clarion, a Treasury Department spokesman noted that Yellen was presented at the meeting and highlighted part of the content:
“The Secretary of the Treasury encouraged Economy Minister Sergio Massa to implement the necessary reforms to rebuild the credibility, stabilize markets and lay the foundations for sustainable growth,” he said.
He added that the meeting was then led by Under Secretary for International Affairs Andy Baukol and Yellen’s special adviser David Lipton.
Yellen’s presence in the room is interpreted in Washington as a show of support for the management of the new minister. In the Argentine delegation, this gesture was celebrated, which other officials prior to his management had not achieved in the Treasury: “Two and a half years the Argentine government searched for this photo”, they told Clarion in the delegation.
In a press conference at the embassy, Massa said that “basically, we told them what we were doing, what were the mechanisms that we had used to strengthen reserves against what the storm represented.”
He said that he explained to him the measure that promoted the accumulation of reserves with the liquidation of soybeans. “They obviously have a huge interest in Argentina quickly returning to the capital market as a way to further advance Argentina’s global credibility recovery,” Massa said.
He also said that he raised the initiative that promotes the automatic exchange of information between the AFIP and the IRS (the US tax agency) that could reveal undeclared accounts of Argentines in the US. The minister said that the Treasury saw “with good eyes” this work that is already advanced at a technical level and only the approval of the Joe Biden government remains.
Then he took the photos, left and let the officials work. “Yellen heard what she wanted to hear”said a source who was at the meeting. The minister assured the American that his mission was to stabilize the macroeconomic chaos and also meet the objectives set out in the program with the Fund, which include a fiscal adjustment to 2.5% of primary GDP at the end of the year and an increase in Bookings.
As the member that contributes the most to the IMF, the Treasury Department has great influence on the agency’s executive boardand your support is vital for any measure that wants to be approved
The meeting with Yellen was not scheduled. It is possible that his appearance at the meeting has been worked on with Massa in several previous meetings that the minister had at a political level in the White House and in other meetings that he had with key officials with access to the Treasury.
Yellen does not usually make waste of these gestures, and less towards Argentina, which lives from crisis to crisis. En Washington photos have weight and it was understood as an endorsement of a minister who has political power.
In fact, he never received Martín Guzmán in his office (he met with him in other areas such as the G20 and if he met at the Treasury it was secretly, without photos), nor did he receive Silvina Batakis, who was at the Treasury only weeks ago. as he knew Clarion, then “there was a search until the last moment to have a Yellen-Batakis photo, but it was not achieved.”
Sergio Massa upon leaving his meeting at the United States Treasury
The minister was accompanied by several of his collaborators from the economic area, including the head of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce; the head of advisers, Leonardo Madcur; and the Secretary of Economic Programming, Gabriel Rubinstein; the director of the Indec and coordinator of the relations with the organisms, Marco Lavagna; and the Argentine ambassador in Washington, Jorge Argüello. Marco Lavagna The Argentine ambassador to the United States, Jorge Argüello, and the head of INDEC were also part of the party.
After Yellen’s departure, the meeting was led by Lipton, who is an official who knows the Argentine case very well given his previous position as number two of the IMF, when the French Christine Lagarde was at the head of the organization. At that time, the Fund lent close to US$ 57,000 million to Argentinaa loan that had to be renegotiated later by Minister Martín Guzmánwhich closed a new program in January.
Sergio Massa and Janet Yellen, an unscheduled meeting
Massa frente at the IMF
Later, Massa met with the head of the Fund, Kristalina Georgieva. There she stated that she will meet the objectives of the agreement, which includes an adjustment to 2.5% of the fiscal deficit at the end of the year and some US$5.8 billion in reserves. in the Central to December, as well as removing energy subsidies.
The dialogue with the Fund also focused on what is to come, on how Massa will make the coming cuts, what his plans are to lower inflation, what the pillars for growth will be and how much support he will have. The minister also sought to show that he has more political backing than his predecessors.
With these two high-profile meetings — Yellen and Georgieva — Masa closes a tour that included meetings with important Biden officials such as National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan; the adviser for Latin America, Juan González and officials from the State Department.
Massa also obtained some US$ 1,200 million of fresh funds from the IDB for reserves and 900 for World Bank projects, he met with investors and businessmen with interests in Argentina. In addition, he traveled to Houston to promote energy investment in Vaca Muerta.
Before returning to Buenos Aires, Massa pointed out that “for Argentina it was a good week, a week of enormous achievements, but I think it is one more step of the many steps we have to take.” And he said that “we have an enormous task ahead of us in the fight against inflation, we have sectors that are still suffering a lot and we have an enormous job ahead of us. I am satisfied with the result, understanding that it is one more step in our responsibility.”