Argentina Receives $12.5 Billion IMF Loan
Back in 2001 economic problems in Argentina forced President Fernando de la Rua to flee his presidential palace in helicopter after resigning halfway through his term. Shortly afterward, Argentina set the dubious mark of the largest default on foreign debt ever — $140 billion.
But in September the International Monetary Fund agreed to loan Argentina an additional $12.5 billion over the next three years to bail it out of its economic crisis. Talks were scheduled with Argentina for October to discuss rescheduling $90 billion of its foreign debt.
Argentina asked private creditors to write off as much as 75 percent of its debt (in the form of government bonds).
In order to obtain the loan, Argentina agreed to control government spending and achieve maintain a budget surplus equal to 3 percent of gross domestic product for 2004. The government also agreed to submit a tax reform plan to the Argentine legislature by 2005.
Sources:
Argentina gets huge IMF loan. The BBC, September 21, 2003.
IMF approves US$12.5 billion loan package for Argentina. Associated Press, September 21, 2003.
The Argentina Receives $12.5 Billion IMF Loan by Brian Carnell, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Tags: Argentina, International Monetary Fund