IMF to talk with Argentina after presidential vote

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund will hold regular economic consultations with Argentina after the country's October 28 presidential vote, an IMF spokesman said on Thursday.

The consultations will occur at a time when Argentina is seeking a restructuring of $6.3 billion in debt owed to the Paris Club of creditor nations, a move that will require an IMF-supervised program.

"We continue to have regular productive discussions with them and we will undertake the next Article IV consultation shortly after the new government takes office," IMF spokesman Masood Ahmed told a news briefing.

The IMF's Article IV consultations are annual talks between a team of IMF economists and its 185 member countries that look at a country's economic policies and the health of its economy.

Discussions on the Paris Club debt are very likely to arise during the IMF talks in the Argentina capital Buenos Aires.

The current government of President Nestor Kirchner last year paid off its debt to the IMF to free the country from conditions of its IMF loan program, which was agreed after a 2001-02 default and financial crisis in Argentina.

The October 28 election is widely expected to be won by Kirchner's wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, according to political surveys.