President Javier Milei signed today the Decree of Necessity and Urgency for the agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The government hopes that the opposition does not manage to stop it in Congress, which would require gathering votes in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. According to official sources, the decree is expected to be published this Tuesday in the Official Bulletin.
It is expected that the decree will be generic and not contain details about the amount of support expected from the IMF, a relevant piece of information for the markets. Last week, the government clarified that the agreement with the IMF would not be sent to Parliament through a bill, but rather via a presidential decree from Milei.
In the words of the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, justifying the decision, he pointed out that seeking parliamentary support would take too much time and that Argentina urgently needs that support from the Fund. The DNU will be processed by the Bicameral Legislative Procedure Commission, and it is anticipated that it will not be rejected.
The opposition has objected to this new official initiative considering that the decree goes against the Law of Strengthening the Sustainability of Public Debt, approved by Congress in February 2021 at the urging of then Minister of Economy Martín Guzmán. This regulation requires the Executive to request authorization from Congress to sign agreements with the Fund or issue public debt.
With the decision to publish a decree and ultimately bet on obtaining tacit approval from Parliament until it is rejected by both Chambers, the ruling party argues that it is not violating the mentioned norm.
