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Argentina Seeks Breathing Room With Peso Swap Worth $65 Billion

Argentina is starting a record swap of peso-denominated debt Monday in a bid to roll over almost all of its 2024 maturities into the next four years, providing a temporary respite to President Javier Milei’s government. 
Bloomberg
By Bloomberg
11 Mar
Javier Milei Javier Milei

The economy ministry published late Friday a list with the bonds it seeks to repurchase and sell, saying it will receive offers from investors until Tuesday 3 p.m. in Buenos Aires (2 p.m. ET). The swap may amount to 55 trillion pesos ($65 billion), according to Juan Manuel Truffa, partner and director at local consulting firm Outlier.

Read More: Argentina Plans to Swap 2024 Bonds for Longer-Dated Securities

Conversations between Economy Minister Luis Caputo and local banks began in January as his team floated the idea of rolling over all of the peso debt due this year, which amounts to 57 trillion pesos. While debt swaps are common in Argentina, the record size of this operation will be seen as a test of local market confidence in Milei’s economic program, three months into his presidency.

Extending local debt maturities would reduce the need to print pesos to cover all of Argentina’s local debt payments in 2024, helping to stabilize the currency and potentially stamping out some inflationary pressures.

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