In pursuing a new loan from the International Monetary Fund, Argentinian President Javier Milei's government has made no secret of its self-interested political motivations. If the world's lender of last resort falls for the ploy, it could suffer a loss of credibility from which it might not recover.
VATICAN CITY – The International Monetary Fund just announced an agreement to provide yet another new loan to Argentina, and the IMF’s executive board will meet this week to decide on it. Many in Argentina already have: the new debt would be seen as illegitimate. If the IMF disbursed the loan under current conditions, it would violate its own lending rules, and doing so would pose myriad risks to multilateralism and hurt the Argentine people. The board must act decisively to mitigate them.
VATICAN CITY – The International Monetary Fund just announced an agreement to provide yet another new loan to Argentina, and the IMF’s executive board will meet this week to decide on it. Many in Argentina already have: the new debt would be seen as illegitimate. If the IMF disbursed the loan under current conditions, it would violate its own lending rules, and doing so would pose myriad risks to multilateralism and hurt the Argentine people. The board must act decisively to mitigate them.