Argentina's primary budget surplus in the first five months of 2004 edged past the full-year target agreed with the International Monetary Fund, the government said on Thursday.
Argentina posted a primary surplus of 4.378 billion pesos ($1.48 billion) in May, boosting the five-month surplus to 10.037 billion pesos. The goal agreed with the IMF for the entire year was 10 billion pesos.
"This result was achieved because of sky-high tax collection (in May), based on the tax on earnings and steady spending levels," Daniel Vecchirelli, a spokesman for the Treasury Secretariat, told Reuters.
The primary surplus, which excludes debt servicing, is a main requisite for Argentina's three-year, $13.3 billion aid agreement with the Fund.
The deal is reviewed every three months to ensure Argentina is complying, and an IMF technical mission just completed its work in Buenos Aires for the third review. The Fund's board is expected to vote on the matter next month.
Argentina has easily met its fiscal targets but has had a harder time making promised political reforms, such as the streamlining of provincial funding.
The nation is also struggling to restructure a world-record $100 billion in defaulted sovereign debt - a process being watched closely by the Fund, although IMF officials say it is not their role to intervene.
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