The International Monetary Fund (IMF) clarified today that discussions on a new program of the agency with Argentina “have not yet started”, although it reiterated its support for the country in restructuring the debt with private creditors and was hopeful that the parties may reach an agreement.

“We have a very active and constructive dialogue with the Argentine authorities. We seek to support Argentina and the Argentine people as much as we can; but at this stage, we have not started, I want to be clear, we have not started discussions on a new program supported by funds for Argentina”, spokesman Gerry Rice said this morning during a press conference.

The IMF keeps the fate of the current program frozen, through which it disbursed disbursements to the country for the US $ 44,000 million, and Argentina will have to renegotiate it, or sign another one, to face the repayment of the agency’s loans.

“As always, that will be the prerogative of the Argentine authorities”, Rice said in this regard, although when he presented the debt swap offer to the United States Securities Commission (SEC), Argentina formalized its intention to negotiate a new program with the IMF, among the next steps.

Regarding the debt swap with private companies, Rice insisted that the agency is “encouraged by the will of all parties to continue participating and find a consensus”.

“We are hopeful that an agreement can be reached that restores debt sustainability with high probability in Argentina and paves the way for strong and inclusive economic growth”, the spokesperson said.

He also recalled the technical analysis of the Fund on the last Argentine offer presented to creditors, which was known a couple of days ago, where he expressed that it is “consistent” with the debt sustainability analysis carried out by the agency in last March.

Yesterday, the head of the Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, gave a new push to the conclusion of an agreement between Argentina and creditors.

In what seemed like a message addressed to creditors, he maintained that “the objective is to restructure the debt in a way that Argentina can pay it. No one benefits from a country that falls to the precipice of debt”, said Georgieva during a meeting organized by The Washington Post.

He argued that, if an agreement were not reached, “the country would be excluded from the markets, the economy would suffer, the people would suffer and the creditors would not recover their money”, for which he concluded that “sometimes, it is necessary to carry out a restructuring thoughtful”.