El Salvador is still buying Bitcoin even after signing a $1.4 billion loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that urged the country to scale back crypto purchases. Economy Minister Maria Luisa Hayem confirmed this during a live interview at Web Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday.
“There’s a commitment of President Bukele to keep accumulating assets,” Hayem said, reaffirming that Bitcoin remains a key part of the government’s long-term vision.
Last year, El Salvador agreed to several conditions to unlock IMF funding, including improving fiscal discipline and reducing its focus on Bitcoin. Despite this, the government’s Bitcoin Office continues to post updates about new purchases, showing that crypto accumulation is still happening.
In 2021, President Nayib Bukele signed the Bitcoin legal tender law making El Salvador the first country to adopt bitcoin as its legal tender. While the enthusiasts of cryptocurrencies welcomed the decision, critics from the traditional financial sector emerged and the credit rating was downgraded.
In exchange for the IMF agreement, the country also permitted companies to decide whether to accept Bitcoin or not. This was deemed as a way of appeasing the investors who were concerned with the financial health of the country.
“Bitcoin remains to be an important project,” Hayem stated adding that there are government and private initiatives in the development of crypto strategies.
However, Salvador continues to support Bitcoin and even become one of the first countries to adopt it as a legal tender. People are now keen to see how the nation is able to manage innovation and the IMF at the same time.
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