IMF Deal ‘Dead’ and So Is Bitcoin Bond Issuance, Claim Bukele Critics

cryptonews.com:

The former Governor of the Salvadoran central bank, the Central Reserve Bank, claims that negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are “practically dead” – and says investors are “not interested” in the delayed bitcoin (BTC) bonds issuance President Nayib Bukele wants to use to pay for his Bitcoin City project.

The comments came from Carlos Acevedo, who headed the central bank from 2009 to 2013. Bukele himself has had a confrontational relationship with organizations such as the IMF and the World Bank – as well as with Washington lawmakers. He has instead sided with bitcoiners who reject the relevance of traditional financial organizations.

This runs contrary to pre-Bukele economic policy in El Salvador, which relied heavily on IMF and World Bank support. Prior to the adoption of BTC as legal tender in September last year, El Salvador had been speaking to the IMF about a possible USD 1.3bn loan deal.

Speaking to the newspaper El Diario de Hoy’s ElSalvador.com website, Acevedo, who is an outspoken critic of the government on most matters, was quoted as stating:

“Negotiations with the [IMF] are practically dead. They would have to be revived.”

And Acevedo claimed separately that the issuance of the so-called “volcano bonds” (named for the fact that the city is to be built at the foot of a volcano that is being used to mine BTC) was “another issue that is complicating matters for the President.” The government is thought to be hoping to raise some USD 1bn from the bond issuance.

As reported, the bond issuance has been pushed back – and Acevedo claimed that this was mainly due to a lack of interest, although the government claims otherwise.

Acevedo stated:

“First the [government] said that [the bond issuance would