IMF increases Argentina bailout package to $57 billion

Eitan Abramovich | AFP | Getty Images

A man walks past a store selling off in Buenos Aires, on September 4, 2018. 

The International Monetary Fund and Argentina announced Wednesday an arrangement to increase resources available to the South American country by $19 billion.

The agreement, pending IMF Executive Board approval, would bring the total amount available under the program to $57.4 billion by the end of 2021, up from $50 billion.

Argentina’s recession-laden economy is struggling under steep interest rates and a currency that has lost around 50 percent of its value against the dollar this year.

The governor of Argentina’s central bank, Luis Caputo resigned on Tuesday for personal reasons after taking the reins in June, the bank said in a statement, a surprise announcement for a country in the midst of talks with the IMF. The announcement sent the peso tumbling.

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