Inter-American Development Bank President Enrique V. Iglesias and Argentina’s Executive Director on the Board of the International Monetary Fund, Antonio Guillermo Zoccali, today signed documents for a $500 million loan to support a program designed to strengthen Argentina’s banking system’s safeguards.
The project supported by the IDB is one of the preventive steps taken by the Argentine government since late last year to defend its economic and social reforms from the turmoil in international financial markets.
This loan will allow the Banco Central de la República Argentina to strengthen its repo system, a bond repurchase program that allows the Argentine central bank to ensure liquidity in the banking system in case of sudden financial stress.
Last year the IDB approved a $2.5 billion emergency loan package to help Argentina strengthen its social programs in key sectors such as education, health and employment.