Argentina in Talks With IMF on September Monetary Policy Target

Argentina’s central bank is talking to the International Monetary Fund about revising its monetary policy target for September, the institution’s president Guido Sandleris told reporters in Buenos Aires on Monday.

Speaking a day after the government reimposed some currency controls in an effort to contain the country’s escalating financial crisis, Sandleris said the central bank had failed to meet its monetary base goals for July and August, allowing the total amount of cash in circulation to rise above its target of 1.34 trillion pesos. But, he added, only the quarterly target is binding for the purpose of the IMF program. The September goal is the same as August’s, once the central bank’s dollar sales to mop up pesos are subtracted from the monetary base.