WASHINGTON, Feb 11, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - IMF staff are working closely with officials in Argentina to secure an agreement on a new financing deal "as quickly as possible," a fund spokesman said Thursday.
 
   Buenos Aires in late January announced it had reached an "understanding" with the International Monetary Fund on key policies needed for a deal on its existing $44 billion debt with the crisis lender.
 
   In recent weeks, the government has paid just over $1 billion in principle and interest on the loan, but is seeking to restructure the remaining payments, which were due this year and next.
 
   "Discussions are ongoing, fairly intensively," but there is no timeline for reaching an agreement, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters Thursday.
 
   "We will be looking to do this as quickly as possible, so stay tuned for updates."
 
   Former Argentine president Mauricio Macri in 2018 originally agreed to a $57 billion loan, the IMF's biggest-ever, but which the lender recently acknowledged had failed to achieve the objectives of restoring confidence in the country's fiscal viability and fostering economic growth.
 
   When his successor took office a year later, center-left President Alberto Fernandez refused to accept the final $13 billion disbursement.
 
   Rice said the IMF staff team "continues working very closely with the authorities" on a deal, which would require final approval from the fund's board.
 
   The focus is on "a realistic, pragmatic, credible approach to designing a program with Argentina that will strengthen the country's macroeconomic stability and begin to address deep-seated challenges," Rice said.