He Secretary of Finance, Pablo Quirnocame out to guarantee the market that the economic team will be able to return to the voluntary market, in order to refinance dollar maturities next year. Quirno said that the economic team is not limited to just waiting for conditions to be favorable for the country, but that works continuously to make this happen.
Through a brief exchange on the social network X (formerly Twitter), the official responded to an observation that was made by the former Secretary of Finance, Miguel Kiguel, one of the reference economists of the marketswho pointed out that, in order to resolve the problem of foreign currency maturities that could be refinanced with new bond issues, Argentina has to reduce country risk.
“With a good strategy, it is possible to continue refinancing debt, especially in pesos. We are doing well in that regard. To refinance the debt In dollars, we must wait for the country risk to drop again, and there the fiscal situation is good, but it is necessary to strengthen reserves,” said Kiguel.
In response to this, Quirno said: “We do not ‘wait’ for the country risk to go down, dear Miguel. We work without buts for it to happen. (and to strengthen reserves as well,” said the official in charge of public debt management.
On the other hand, Quirno indicated that “We are far from being asleep” in the face of potential pressure from the markets, which, for now, aspire to greater precision regarding the progress of the economic plan.
Previously, the Secretary of Finance had responded to a question from a user who had asked him for details on how the Government is going to deal with the “cake” of 2025 maturities.As we have done until now or do you think that the situation in 2025 will be worse than that of December 2023 when, in the face of the disaster, we assumed the responsibility of fulfilling our obligations? “, he said.
The Secretary of Finance considered that the government It does not only count on “good intentions”by rejecting questions from another user.
“Put yourself on December 10, 2023 and Think how much we had to refinance in pesos and dollars with a tremendously worse situation and we are doing it,” he said.
The Government seeks to build credibility
In this regard, he added that “We will continue to do so, building credibility based on surplus results and low inflation. of our economic plan that will lead us to have access to the markets.
In this way, the official ratified the strategy of the team led by the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, to make the markets understand that the government will maintain the fiscal anchor to reduce inflation, so there will not be a devaluation jump.
It is estimated that Argentina will have US$17 billion in debt maturities in 2025. On the one hand, it will be almost forced to have a new agreement with the IMF that allows it to maintain international reserves. On the other hand, there is a need to vReturn to international placementsYes, but for conditions to be optimal, the market believes that the country risk should be at least 700 basis points, which is equivalent to a reference bond such as the AL30, which should increase its price to US$75. Argentina’s risk is at almost 1,500 points, so the government hopes to reduce it by 50% by the end of the year.
Market doubts regarding the government’s strategy, according to some brokers and analysts,They appeared after the last interest rate cut by the Central Bank, in mid-May, when the reference was reduced to 40% nominal annual. Although the government blamed the delays in supporting the Ley Bases, the truth is that for many operators the exchange rate instability began with that decision and that is why the strategy of devaluing the peso at 2% per month is not finalized and they believe that an adjustment is inevitable.
Behind it, The debate continues regarding the timing of the end of exchange controls. It is clear that for the risk to decrease, the government has to lift the restrictions.
Source: Ambito
