El Salvador Continues Bitcoin Accumulation Despite IMF Loan Agreement: Economy Minister

El Salvador continues to stack Bitcoin despite a high-stakes $1.4 billion IMF deal, the nation’s economy minister, Maria Luisa Hayem, confirmed.

Speaking to Bloomberg News live at the Rio de Janeiro Web Summit on Tuesday, she added that Bitcoin accumulation remains a government priority.

“Bitcoin keeps being an important project,” she noted. “There is an asset accumulation that we’re seeing from the government perspective, from the private sector perspective.”

The Salvadoran government reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), last December, after four years of negotiations. They agreed on a $1.4 billion loan program to be disbursed over 40 months.

The international financial body highlighted the reduced risks from Bitcoin adoption, which had been a major sticking point.

After receiving $1.4 billion in funding, the country made a series of pledges, including scaling back its Bitcoin buying spree.

According to El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office data, the Central American nation has acquired 7 Bitcoin worth more than $650,000 in the 7 days until April 29.

However, in a recent press briefing, Rodrigo Valdes, IMF’s director of the Western Hemisphere Department, confirmed that EL Salvador “continues to comply with their commitment of non-accumulation of bitcoin by the overall fiscal sector.”

“The program of El Salvador is not about Bitcoin. It’s much more, much deeper in structural reforms, in terms of governance, in terms of transparency,” he said.

Further, Bitcoin Office, which oversees the coin accumulation, posted on social media last week that the purchases still continue.

EL SALVADOR BUYS MORE BITCOIN

El Salvador has just bought 1 BTC for our Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

New SBR total: 6,154.18

This is the way pic.twitter.com/qXswTRfnzq

Minister Hayem added that the nation is committed to accumulating the assets and that crypto remains a priority.

“There’s a commitment of President Bukele to keep accumulating assets as a way to do precisely that,” she added.

Additionally, in yet another strategic move, El Salvador’s Ministry of Education has announced a financial literacy program for schoolchildren, which would include Bitcoin education.

The curriculum will initially roll out across 50 public schools located in the La Libertad department, an official release noted. The coastal department is recognised as the place of early and active Bitcoin adoption.

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