Iran Press/ America: The Economy Ministry announced it will make this month’s US$2.7 billion payment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) tomorrow without resorting to the Central Bank’s US dollar reserves, presidential spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti confirmed today.
Instead, the government will use Special Drawing Rights (SDR, the IMF’s exchange asset) and freely available yuan from the country’s currency swap with the People’s Republic of China.
“This way, we comply with what we agreed upon with the Fund and, at the same time, we don’t use [international] reserves, nor we put the Central Bank’s reserves at risk,” Cerruti said in a press conference.
Earlier this month, Argentina and China renewed their currency swap line to bolster the South American country’s reserves, which are currently at a record-low negativ US$2.2 billion according to the Ecolatina consulting firm. The new agreement also doubled the government’s free access amount, taking it from US$ 5 billion to US$10 billion. 219
