Flag Day was accompanied by good news on the financial front as the MSCI ratings agency restored Argentina to emerging market status for the first time since 2009 (when it was demoted to “frontier market”) while also on Wednesday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) board of directors formally approved the stand-by agreement reached at staff level on June 8, thus releasing US$ 15 billion to resist the financial turbulence recently hitting Argentina.

The return to emerging market status opens up access to new capital because various major global investment funds shunning frontier markets can now buy Argentine shares and bonds again.

According to the new Central Bank Governor Luis Caputo, the financial reforms approved by Congress this year were crucial for Argentina ceasing to be a frontier market.