Press Release No. 05/278

Press Release: Argentina Announces its Intention to Complete Early Repayment of its Entire Outstanding Obligations to the IMF

December 15, 2005

On December 15, 2005 Argentina announced its intention to make an early repayment of its entire outstanding obligations to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amounting to SDR 6.876 billion (about US$ 9.9 billion). The outstanding obligations had been contracted under the Stand-By Arrangements approved by the Executive Board on March 10, 2000, January 24, 2003 and September 20, 2003, and includes a small remaining obligation contracted under the Extended Fund Facility approved on March 31, 1992 (see Press Release No. 03/160).

Mr. Rodrigo de Rato, the Managing Director of the IMF, said, "I welcome Argentina's repayment of its outstanding obligations to the Fund. The decision has been taken by the government in accordance with its rights as any normal member of the Fund and reflects their confidence that their external position is sufficiently strong to warrant early repayment.

"Important challenges and opportunities lie ahead for Argentina and the Fund looks forward to maintaining a productive relationship with the authorities. We remain ready to assist the Argentine authorities in any way that would help them address these challenges," he said.

Total drawings by Argentina under the three Stand-By Arrangements were equivalent to SDR 16.102 billion (about US$23.2 billion) out of a total of SDR 28.092 billion (about US$40.5 billion) that were made available under the three arrangements.

The Executive Board last met on June 20, 2005 to consider the Article IV consultation for Argentina and a summary of that discussion is contained in Public Information Notice No. 05/83.