Between January and March the stock of external debt grew by US$2,160 million. In this way, its weight on the GDP grew.
The stock of external debt increased in the first months of the Government of Javier Milei and touched US$290,000 million. Due to this increase, and due to the deep recession that Argentina is going through, Its weight on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) also grew in the first quarter of 2024 to almost 60%.
According to a report published this Wednesday by the INDECthe external debt rose US$2,160 million compared to the last quarter of last year and stood exactly at US$289,969 million.
This increase was mainly due to the increase of US$2,371 million in the debt of the Non-financial Corporations, Households and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) sector for US$2,371 million. For its part, The general government increased its debt by US$886 million.
Regarding the central government debt, the nominal amount amounts to US$143,572 million; 52.8% corresponds to obligations with international organizations (mainly IMF, IDB, IBRD AND CAF) and 44% to liabilities with security holders.
From these numbers, The weight of external debt over GDP increased from 47% to 58%. This responded not only to the higher liabilities in dollars but also, and fundamentally, to the quarter-on-quarter contraction of the economy of 2.6%, and to the reduction in GDP measured in dollars after the December devaluation.
Between the Government and non-financial corporations, households and NPISHs, they concentrated more than 90% of the external liabilities that have as counterpart a credit right of the rest of the world against the resources of the resident economy that are reflected in the international investment position. .
This position was reduced during the first quarter, which means that the country reduced its creditor position with respect to the rest of the world (which is mainly explained by the large amount of assets that Argentine residents have in the form of currencies and deposits).
Source: Ambito
