The International Monetary Fund has announced it is sending an eagerly-awaited mission to Argentina on Thursday.

But it says it will be an advance team to discuss economic programmes, rather than the release of new loans at this stage.

For its part, the government says it has met all conditions that the IMF set for the release of new loans, and is confident a deal will be reached shortly.

But the BBC correspondent in Buenos Aires says that while the mission's arrival gives the government some breathing space, the IMF appears still to have reservations over releasing new funds to Argentina.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service