Colombia will continue with its payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) according to plans “initially established“said the economic organization, this Friday, April 19.
The director of the Western Hemisphere Department of the IMF, Rodrigo Valdés, He assured in a press conference that the Colombian government has already “programmed into your budget“payments to the fund for this year and the next.
(See: IMF asks the world's central banks to ignore optimism due to falling inflation).
“There are no discussions about any other plans” payment, said the economist in the framework of the meetings that the Fund held this week in Washington (United States) with the World Bank (WB).
“I would like to be very careful with this. I want to say that, first of all, the (Colombian) authorities conveyed to the team, to the Western Hemisphere, that they are going to continue with their long-standing plan to meet their payment obligations to the IMF, as was initially scheduled when obtaining the LCF in 2020. Independently, the authorities had reiterated their request for a new LCF for precautionary purposes exclusively as additional insurance against risks that may arise, but that must be considered by the IMF board in future sessions“added Valdés.
(See: IMF raised the growth outlook for Latin America: how would Colombia fare?).
These statements come days after President Gustavo Petro advance what he would propose to the IMF extend the debt repayment period.
Gustavo Petro.
The president had said that the proposal was going to be presented by the Minister of Finance, Ricardo Bonilla, to the IMF Director Kristalina Georgieva.
In 2020, under the government of Iván Duque (2018-2022), Colombia asked the IMF for a loan, known as Flexible Credit Line (LCF), to face the covid-19 pandemic.
(See: When will we see high growth rates in the economy again? This is what the IMF says).
As of December 2023, the balance of The external debt of the country's public sector is estimated at 112.97 billion dollars, which represents almost a third of the country's GDP, according to the Bank of the Republic.
In February, the head of the IMF Mission for Colombia, Ceyda Oner, recalled the two-year agreement approved for Colombia in 2022 by that organization, which includes an LCF of approximately 9.8 billion dollars, and maintained that the national authorities “They have said that they want to renew it as long as conditions allow it.“.
(See: The IMF shares causes and recommendations for the fall in investment in Colombia).
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