Argentina will ask the World Bank (WB) for $3.5 billion loans to be used in several investment projects within the next years. With this objective, the Government and the WB started to negotiate the "Country Assistance Strategy" (CAS) for the next years, as reported by sources at the Treasury Department and the international organism.
In 2003 Argentina was seeking to have a 5-year program, but Washington's multilateral bank decided to shorten it to a 2-year program worth $2 billion, to be used in debt, public service and banking system issues, among others.
Now the country will seek to get $3.5 billion in order to cover some budgetary programs and keep on settling its debt with the World Bank, following the "debt-reduction" strategy agreed between Argentina's Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).