The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has granted Argentina, home to the Vaca Muerta Shale play, access to $4.7 billion to restore macroeconomic stability. The infusion of money comes as the South American country’s inflation surpassed 200% in 2023.

“The proposed disbursement is intended to support the new authorities’ strong policy efforts to restore macroeconomic stability and help Argentina meet its balance of payments needs,” the IMF said Jan. 10 in a press release.

The IMF said key economic program targets were missed by the previous government presided over by former Argentina President Alberto Fernández.

“The program went severely off track. The end-September primary fiscal deficit and domestic arrears targets were missed, and preliminary data suggest that the end-year targets were missed by an even larger margin,” the IMF said. “The targets for net international reserves were also missed, with deviations relative to end-year target by around $15 billion prior to the start of the new administration.”

Argentina’s newly elected president, Javier Milei, has proposed wide-ranging economic changes from dollarizing the economy to devaluing the currency in a move to restore macroeconomic stability, which includes reeling in inflation.

Milei has also floated the idea of privatizing Argentina’s state-owned energy producer YPF SA, the country’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer.

Argentina is home to 802 Tcf of technically recoverable shale resources, which have the potential to drastically change the country’s economics. However, political and economic stability are necessary to encourage large-scale investments from international oil companies, analysts say.

U.S. companies already producing from Argentina’s Vaca Muerta formation include Chevron and Exxon Mobil. Europe’s TotalEnergies and Shell also produce shale from the formation.

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The IMF deal comes as Argentina’s inflation reached a whopping 211.4% in 2023, according to data from its National Institute of Statistics and Censuses or INDEC by its Spanish acronym. This compares to 94.8% in 2022.

Argentina’s inflation figure for 2023 exceeded that of Venezuela, which is estimated at 193%, according to reports from Buenos Aires-based media outlet TN.

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