The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Government of El Salvador have reached a technical understanding for the second and third joint review of the IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) that the organization maintains with the Central American country, through which around 140 million dollars (120.5 million euros) will be released.
According to the organization, this understanding still needs to be endorsed by the executive board of the Fund and is conditioned on the fulfillment of commitments previously assumed by both parties. The EFF program for El Salvador amounts to a total of about 1.4 billion dollars (1.205 billion euros).
The IMF has specified that the consolidation of Salvadoran public accounts will be intensified through spending control and strengthening revenue management, in order to generate fiscal space to finance social programs and investments in infrastructure considered priorities.
"The economy of El Salvador continues to show good performance. Real GDP growth exceeded expectations in 2025 and is expected to reach 4.5% in 2026, driven by strong investment and private consumption, along with solid remittances, tourism, and capital inflows," the IMF explained.
"This dynamic has been supported by new improvements in security and by greater investor confidence, as a result of the implementation of prudent macroeconomic policies aimed at strengthening fiscal and external buffers," it added.
In this regard, the Fund has emphasized that the program is contributing to reducing "significantly" poverty, thanks to the increase in efficiency in the provision of public services in El Salvador.
The agreed plan for the country foresees additional fiscal consolidation, with a projection of a primary surplus of the non-financial public sector that will rise from 2.9% of GDP this year to 3.7% of GDP in 2027. The Fiscal Responsibility Law aims to reduce public debt to 80% of GDP by 2030.
At the same time, the Salvadoran government is promoting a reform of the Public Function and intends to advance in 2027 a parametric reform of the pension system aligned with the recommendations of the IMF.
Likewise, commitments have been introduced regarding transparency and good governance following the strong reduction of state participation in the electronic wallet "Chivo", after operational control and most of the ownership have passed to a private entity, with the State maintaining a minority stake and the custody of the assets.
El Salvador has also presented the documentation supporting that the accumulation of bitcoins recorded since the first review comes from private donations and not from public treasury resources, while no additional purchase of this cryptocurrency is anticipated beyond the already documented operations.