By Jorgelina do Rosario and Jorge Otaola
LONDON/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -&nbsp;Argentina's government is in final&nbsp;talks&nbsp;with International Monetary Fund officials to&nbsp;ease&nbsp;foreign exchange&nbsp;reserves&nbsp;targets&nbsp;for 2023 under the country's $44 billion program, two sources close to the matter told Reuters.
The move comes as the South American commodities exporter is facing the worst&nbsp;drought&nbsp;in 60 years, which has pummeled soy, corn and wheat crops, compromising already weak foreign exchange&nbsp;reserves.&nbsp;
Discussions include the impact of the&nbsp;drought&nbsp;on 2023 goals for net&nbsp;reserves, said an&nbsp;Argentina&nbsp;economy ministry adviser who asked not to be named because the&nbsp;talks&nbsp;were ongoing.
Talks&nbsp;are now focused on agreeing on exact figures, said one of the sources. An Argentine government source, who asked not to be named because discussions are private, said&nbsp;talks&nbsp;are ongoing but nothing is defined yet.
Officials for the Economy Ministry declined to comment.
A spokesperson for the&nbsp;IMF&nbsp;said that the Fund's staff and the Argentine authorities are discussing the fourth review of the programme, and it will communicate the outcome of those discussions in due course.
A group of representatives from&nbsp;Argentina's central bank and Economy Ministry arrived in Washington this week for the fourth review of the extended fund facility program approved in March 2022, after a failed bailout four years earlier.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, Economy Minister Sergio Massa met with&nbsp;IMF&nbsp;Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meetings in Bengaluru, India.
The&nbsp;talks&nbsp;to change the central bank net&nbsp;reserves&nbsp;targets&nbsp;for this year are pre-emptive, as the country did meet its end-December 2022 net&nbsp;reserves&nbsp;targets, another source added.&nbsp;
The world's top exporter of soy oil and meal is also facing a rise in import costs of energy and fertilizers due to the war in Ukraine, adding pressure to much-needed dollar&nbsp;reserves.
These discussions come shortly after the country decided in January to start a debt buyback of its overseas debt of up to $1 billion. Earlier this month,&nbsp;IMF&nbsp;official Nigel Chalk said that&nbsp;Argentina&nbsp;shouldn't undermine&nbsp;targets&nbsp;to rebuild its "scarce" foreign currency&nbsp;reserves.
Net&nbsp;reserves&nbsp;today stand at around $4.4 billion, according to calculations from Buenos Aires-based brokerage firm PPI Inversiones.
Under the latest review,&nbsp;Argentina&nbsp;had been set the target of net&nbsp;reserves&nbsp;to increase&nbsp;by $5.5 billion at the end of March and $9.8 billion at the end of the year.&nbsp;
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(Additional reporting by Adam Jourdan, Editing by Mark Potter and Diane Craft)

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Argentina in talks with IMF to ease reserves targets amid drought