Argentina's Congress approves bill to refinance $45 billion in Macri-era IMF debt

Argentina's Senate approved a bill tonight that authorizes an agreement reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the refinance of a $45 billion debt.

The bill, passed last Friday by the Lower House by 202 to 37, was approved by the Senate by a similarly lopsided 56 to 13.

The agreement, reached between Argentine Economy Martín Guzmán and IMF staff on January 24, would, if approved by the IMF's board, avoid default on the $45 billion lent from a stand-by credit line to former President Mauricio Macri on the eve of his failed, 2019 re-election campaign.

The record IMF bailout was reportedly granted at the insistence of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

President Alberto Fernández, who strongly backed the agreement, enjoyed a rare bi-partisanship in Congress.

The opposition, center-right Together for Change coalition largely backed the bill - reportedly after intense lobbying by business leaders, who fear a default would derail the country's strong recovery from three years of deep recession.

And while two-thirds of Fernández's Front for All voted in favor, many in the Front's more intransigent wing - including his own Vice President, Cristina Kirchner - opposed it on grounds that it “imposed austerity.”

“Where is the austerity?” the president asked rhetorically during a ceremony to inaugurate subsidized housing earlier today. “With this agreement with the IMF there is no austerity.”

“Austerity is what we would have had if we had fallen into default!” he added. “There we'd have no way out, and no escape.”

“We achieved a radically different agreement from all those that were historically had with the IMF,” Guzmán explained.

“There is no removal of rights from workers or retirees; investment in infrastructure and education is to be expanded. We managed to put the interests of the real economy first.”

Argentina had earlier refinanced $66 billion in privately-held foreign debt - around a third of the total - but remains largely shut out of global credit markets.

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Argentina's Senate convenes for today's vote on the passage of legislation authorizing an agreement with the IMF for the refinance of a $45 billion debt.

The record bailout, dating from former President Mauricio Macri's failed, 2019 re-election campaign, was reportedly granted at the insistence of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Unlike past IMF programs, the agreement envisages no labor law deregulation, state layoffs, or changes to public pensions.

Economist Joseph Stiglitz lauded the agreement for “not insisting, as (the IMF) usually does, on austerity - instead providing Argentina with room to continue its economic recovery.”