Argentina says it will lift the country’s strict currency controls with the help from the IMF

Argentine President Javier Milei’s Minister of Economics announced on Friday that the Libertarian government will lift the country’s strict capital and currency control within a few days, a venture with a new loan from the International Monetary Fund.

In a national television address, Economics Minister Luis Caputo also said the IMF executive council decided to approve the $ 20 billion bail announced earlier this week, offering a lifeline to the dangerously exhausting foreign exchange reserves in Argentina.

“From Monday, the agreement will enable us to lift the exchange rate controls that so severely limit the normal functioning of the economy,” said Caputo of the government’s headquarters in Buenos Aires.

This is a news update. AP’s earlier story follows below.

Buenos Aires, Argentina (AP) – Monthly inflation in Argentina accelerated in March to its fastest rate in seven months, the country’s official statistics agency reported on Friday, with consumer prices higher than the month before rising food prices.

The steep increase, compared to an inflation rate of 2.4% for February, surprised financial analysts and concerned Argentine who became increasingly concerned that President Javier Milei’s progress in reducing price increases could stand still. The last time inflation rose so much on a monthly basis was in August 2024, when prices rose 4.2%.

The inflation numbers come at a critical time for the second largest economy of South America. Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund announced a new $ 20 billion loan agreement with Argentina. The IMF executive board is expected to vote on the program later Friday.

While Milei considers the IMF deal of utmost importance to its efforts to stabilize Argentina’s long upset economy, the still-vague agreement has spread Jitters to traders who expect Argentina to impose a new monetary and foreign expansion policy as a condition to receive the cash. But to further devalue the peso, now linked to the US dollar, risk capital flight and even higher inflation.

Milei came to power in December 2023 with the promise to pull Argentina out of its long -standing inflationary spiral.