El Salvador still sticks to its Bitcoin Freeze, said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during spring meetings 2025 for the western hemisphere department, according to the official transcript of the press conference.
During the event, Julie Ziegler, head of senior communications of the IMF, launched the discussion by reading a question submitted online by Ion Group.
The question asked why El Salvador had moved Bitcoin between the accounts instead of buying more directly to develop his reservations. Ziegler said they would approach this before answering any other question and Argentina would have its own section later in the session.
Rodrigo Valdes, director of the western hemisphere department of the IMF, replied frankly that El Salvador continues to follow his commitment not to add Bitcoin Holdings to the public sector.
“I can confirm that they continue to comply with their commitment to non-accumulation of bitcoin by the global budgetary sector”, Rodrigo said. He clearly indicated that there were no secret transactions to increase the reserves thanks to sneaky movements.
The IMF is up to wider reforms in Salvador
Before diving further into El Salvador, the briefing has changed for Honduras. A journalist asked questions about IMF's contributions to Honduras and other countries in the region faced with confusion and commercial tensions.
Rodrigo said: “Honduras has just had an agreement in terms of staff with the fund. This means that we are ready to go to the board of directors for the program examination, the second exam. “
Rodrigo explained that Honduras made strong movements when global conditions were calm, solving structural and macroeconomic problems early. “You repair your roof when the weather is nice outside,” he added, calling Honduras a case of good preparation.
Rodrigo also declared that Honduras improved its reservations, obtained more funds from international financial institutions (IFIS), reduced inflation, increased its economy and made budgetary reforms, which made the country stronger against future shocks compared to the front.
Returning to Salvador, Rodrigo clearly said that Bitcoin is not the centerpiece of their economic program. “El Salvador's program does not concern Bitcoin. It is much more, much more deeply in structural reforms, in terms of governance, in terms of transparency,” he said.
Rodrigo explained that the country pushes through major changes to make government operations cleaner and more open. Budget reforms are also part of the agenda, and he has confirmed that the authorities push forward to do them.
The country's program with the IMF is an agreement of 40 months worth 1.4 billion dollars, but if you count what they can withdraw from other IFIs, it rises to around $ 3.5 billion. Rodrigo has said that a “important tax adjustment” is currently taking place within the framework of this plan. The idea is to make El Salvador a better place for private companies to invest and help the economy to grow more quickly.
Rodrigo also said that the IMF was preparing the first full examination of the program. If everything continues to move as he did, El Salvador could see even more important gains. He stressed that the country is now being held on a much stronger macroeconomic foundation.
In addition, Rodrigo has said that enormous safety improvements in Salvador in recent years will bring additional advantages that have piled up in addition to the best economy.
After having covered El Salvador and Honduras, Ziegler told the press that they would finally pass to questions about Argentina, which had not yet adopted the crypto but still has its president involved in an international investigation into cryptography fraud.
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