On Thursday, Argentine social movements will urge senators to reject the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) aproved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to refinance a US$44 billion debt contracted by former President Mauricio Macri in 2018.
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The EFF grants Argentina a four-year grace period during which it must not pay any loan fees in return for a commitment to reduce its fiscal deficit by 2.1 percent by 2024.
Social movements argue that such an engagement will hinder the government from adopting comprehensive policies to curb inflation, which reached a 4.7 percent rate in February.
"The minimum wage has been increased by 7.5 percent recently. However, such salary currently amounts to half of the basic food basket due to inflation," left-wing lawmaker Romina Del Pla stated, adding that this situation has increased poverty indexes.
The Union of Land Workers (UTT) spokesperson Agustin Suarez also pointed out that the payment of the debt in the deadlines established by the IMF will require an extractive model of production that will wipe out Argentina’s biodiversity.
"We demand that an investigation be opened urgently against the Macri administration for the loan request and the IMF for granting it," Suarez stressed, recalling that the IMF loan was not employed for the country's benefit.
"Our people will not pay a debt it did not incur. The debt will have to be settled by both the political class that negotiated it and the business class that used it," he highlighted.