"What we asked the IMF for was a note with options on what a program could be, and what we are doing is analyzing it internally at the Ministry of Finance; we have not started any type of negotiation, we have asked for information and we are analyzing it, but we have not yet had the opportunity to discuss at other levels, within the government, is really an internal technical work of the Ministry", said Vera Daves de Sousa.
Speaking to Lusa as part of the Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank, taking place this week in Washington, Vera Daves de Sousa argued that she likes to "have all the options on the table".
"If there is a financing gap, which we generally have and seek from different sources, multilateral institutions, due to the financial conditions they bring with them, are always a good option to be considered", she admitted.
Asked whether asking the IMF to prepare a note on options for financial adjustment programs was not a first step towards the existence of a program, the minister replied that "one could say yes", but insisted that "the topic was not discussed politically, it is at the technical level to have all the options on the table".
The request for financing options from the IMF comes after the government failed "once or twice" to pay salaries to civil servants on time in the summer and was unable to borrow from financial markets due to the interest rate demanded by investors being above of 10 percent.
"The reason for not issuing Eurobonds was the price; basically we are looking for a single-digit interest rate and it is still in double digits," the Finance Minister told Lusa.
Contacts with potential creditors continue, particularly in Washington, where there were meetings "to share with investors our perspective of the economy, our vision", he said.
"We are doing our homework, we have the documents prepared, and as soon as we feel that the market accommodates us, we are available to move forward" in an amount that could vary from 500 million dollars to 1.5 billion dollars, "but not there are fixed values determined", concluded the governor.
The IMF approved an expanded financing program (EFF) worth around 3.8 billion dollars at the end of 2018, which was later increased to 4.5 billion dollars and ended at the end of 2021.
