At a press briefing given on July 13, Julie Kozack, Director of the IMF Communication Department, responded to several questions regarding Argentina’s June 30 payment of a portion of its debt ($1.1 billion out of $2.7 billion) using the Chinese yuan.
She said, “With respect to the payments in RMB [renminbi], our general practice is not to comment on the specific transactions of a member country. As we have stated in the past, the Argentine authorities continue to remain current on their financial obligations to the IMF. The RMB is one of the five freely usable currencies that members can and have used to settle their obligations with the IMF.”
When asked by an unnamed questioner, whether she could “confirm or deny that director Zhang, from China, sent a letter to the board, and to [IMF Managing Director Kristalina] Georgieva, stating that Argentina could use or keep using, swap with the Chinese Central Bank to pay off the IMF in the coming months?” Kozack replied that it was her understanding that the letter didn’t exist.
