El Salvador expects to reach agreement with the IMF in the next two to three weeks on a $1.3bn loan programme in return for changes to its pioneering use of bitcoin as legal tender and reductions in government deficits, according to two people close to the talks.
An IMF mission has arrived in San Salvador to finalise details of the agreement with President Nayib Bukele’s government. The deal was expected to unlock another $1bn of lending from the World Bank and $1bn from the Inter-American Development Bank over the next few years, the people said. An IMF spokesperson declined to comment, citing the fund’s policy of not speaking about ongoing negotiations.
The lending package, which would have to be approved by the IMF board, would seal the Central American country’s return to the international financial fold after several years of relative isolation, following its passage of a law in June 2021 making it the world’s first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.