Argentine economy minister Sergio Massa is concurrently running for president and renegotiating a USD 44 bln deal with the IMF. A too-generous or too-strict aid package could potentially sway Massa’s electoral chances. Government officials are trying to persuade the IMF to increase a USD 4 bln disbursement initially scheduled for June to USD 10 bln to help the country mitigate the effects of its worst drought in a century. Another point of negotiation is whether the IMF will allow the government to use the new disbursement to strengthen the peso, which has lost half its value against the dollar in the past year.