The Treasury’s purchase of foreign currency from the BCRA took place on September 12. This was reflected in the official spreadsheets. Officials later confirmed that these were the dollars that would guarantee compliance with the bondholders. This had been promised two months ago.
The Government made a new one wink to creditors. Last week, The Treasury completed the purchase of US$1.528 billion from the Central Bank that will be used to pay the next interest payment on foreign debt securities, which was scheduled for January.
This is a gesture that adds to the signals sent last Sunday by President Javier Milei, who assured that the 2025 Budget is designed so that the primary surplus necessary to pay the interest on the debt is an unbreakable rule (once compliance with creditors is guaranteed, it will be seen what remains for the rest of the State’s budget).
The advance purchase of foreign currency to pay the interest due in January is had announced two months agoin the midst of the financial shock that followed the launch of phase 2 of the economic program, which had disappointed by not including a roadmap for lifting the exchange rate restrictions.
Finally, the operation was completed on Thursday, September 12. As reflected in the daily record of Treasury deposits in the BCRA published by the monetary authority with a few days’ delay, on that day the account in dollars that the Government has in the Central Bank increased its balance by US$1,528 million.
Once the official budget was published, speculation began in the City, as the amount coincided exactly with what the Finance Secretary, Pablo Quirno, had announced in July. The confirmation was carried out by Federico Furiasedirector of the BCRA and advisor to Luis Caputo, who on his social network X account published: “Finance has already bought dollars from the BCRA for the interest payments due in January 2025”published this Tuesday afternoon.
The reasons for the nod to creditors
The fact that the Government buys these currencies four months before the date of payment to the bondholders clearly shows the The need for the economic team to break with the mistrust generated in the City of Buenos Aires and on Wall Street due to the shortage of dollarsIn fact, net reserves are currently negative by more than US$5 billion, according to private estimates.
The gesture tries to bring peace of mind to creditors and encourage a bullish rally in bonds, which will help lower country risk. The risk indicator prepared by JP Morgan is still too high to allow the Government to access international markets next year to refinance part of the capital maturities of the external debt. However, Caputo assures that this will not be necessary since it has guaranteed repo loans to meet the commitments of January and July 2025.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether the Treasury will actually send the US$1.528 billion to the Bank of New York to remain frozen until the interest payment is made, as Quirno had announced at the time.
Source: Ambito
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