(Reuters): The executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved on Wednesday the fifth and sixth reviews of its US$44 billion programme with Argentina, allowing for the disbursement of US$7.5 billion the cash-strapped economy desperately needs, the Argentine government said.

“The IMF board approved the disbursement of US$7.5 billion,” the economy ministry said in a statement.

IMF staff and Argentina had reached an agreement late in July, with the disbursement left pending board approval.

Argentina’s net foreign exchange reserves were in the red ahead of the disbursement and the South American country agreed a US$775 million loan with Qatar plus a US$1 billion bridge loan from regional development bank CAF and US$1.7 billion from a swap with China to make a payment to the IMF earlier this month.

The next review of the programme is scheduled for November.

The IMF did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

PESO PEGGED

Argentina, the largest debtor with the IMF after years of economic crisis, has seen locals lose faith in their currency as inflation hit triple-digits and almost four-in-ten people are below the poverty line.

The government last week pegged the official peso to 350 per dollar in a 18 per cent devaluation, and raised the benchmark interest rate by 21 percentage points to 118 per cent, politically costly moves amid a presidential campaign. The government said the IMF wanted a “100%” devaluation.

The peso hit last week a record low of 785 per dollar in parallel exchanges, more than double the official rate, and was last at 725 per dollar.