(CNN) — The government of Argentina has sent a letter signed by the leaders of Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico and Paraguay asking US President Joe Biden for his support during ongoing debt negotiations with the International Monetary Fund ( IMF). .
The letter signed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Luis Arce, Gabriel Boric, Gustavo Petro, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Mario Abdo Benítez was published this Thursday night by the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the letter, Latin American leaders stressed their concern about the current economic crisis Argentina is facing “due to the overextension of the previous administration, the pandemic, the impact of the war in Ukraine and the consequences of the largest drought in the country for centuries. ” “.
“The drought caused a foreign exchange loss of more than 20% of the country’s exports with a serious effect on international reserves that complicated the functioning of the stock market, reduced fiscal resources and had an impact on inflation,” he explains . the letter.
While the Argentine government has worked to meet its commitments to the IMF, external factors have made that more difficult, leaders say. The country has asked the IMF for a review that would allow them to meet this year’s challenges and await the results of the energy and mining projects the country is developing that would mean positive impact, the letter added.
But the “rigidity of the IMF in revising its agreement” in the context of the drought runs “the risk of transforming a liquidity problem into a solvency problem” in the country, reads the letter.
“For these reasons, we respectfully and affectionately ask you to support Argentina in the negotiations it is carrying out,” reads the last paragraph of the document.
