The Government closed an agreement with the banks and postpones $7 trillion of the debt in pesos until 2024

The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, closed an agreement with the banks on Monday for the exchange of debt in pesos, which will allow him to clear the maturities of the coming months, a key measure in an election year.

As TN learned, after a meeting with the banks, some $7 billion was postponed until June and the Government expects acceptance by financial institutions to be between 45% and 50%. In addition, in the Palacio de Hacienda they assure that there were no objections from the IMF.

As anticipated by this medium, the Treasury will deliver to those who participate in the exchange new bonds in pesos with staggered maturities for 2024 and 2025. Banks would receive 80% in new titles adjusted for CER -inflation- and 20% in dual bonds , which provide coverage against a jump in the official exchange rate.

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At the end of the meeting with the banks, Massa said that “the most relevant data of this tender that is being launched, of this so-called voluntary exchange, is that it breaks with the idea that Argentina has a reprofiling of debt”.

“We already had a reprofiling of the debt in pesos at some point, we saw the frustration, the pain and the failure that this meant for Argentina and we understand that having an orderly, predictable debt profile is fundamental for the financial system, fundamental for the State and for the saver and the citizen an enormous tranquility”, he expressed.

Debt crosses in pesos

The negotiations between the Palacio de Hacienda and the banks were harshly questioned by Together for Change, which warned of the instability that the debt swap would bring. “It will pose a huge risk for Argentines, since it could lead to an inflationary jump even greater than the one already produced by this government, in addition to generating serious problems for present and future economic management,” the opposition considered.

Together for Change questioned the debt swap in full negotiation between the Ministry of Economy and the banks (Photo: Together for Change).

“Inflation is fought with a fiscal order, with the accumulation of reserves, but also with control of circulating money, as well as with an increase in the improvement of the supply of goods by the private sector that gives dynamics to our economy and that is a job that we are going to face in these second six months of management of this team”, said Massa in the meeting with bankers, in response to questions from the opposition.

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In the same sense, he considered that lowering public spending “decompresses the idea of ​​having to go permanently looking for financing or looking for transitory advances from the Central Bank to put the economy in the idea that fiscal order is the most important anchor.”

Debt swap, a key deal in an election year

Clearing the horizon of debt maturities is key for the Government in an electoral year, in which the Frente de Todos wants to continue in the Casa Rosada.

For months, the debt in pesos and the possibility of Argentina falling into default was the subject of debate on both sides of the crack. “What for many months was raised as the biggest problem and the greatest uncertainty in the Argentine economy, which were the maturities of the debt in pesos, can have a program and a programming that gives peace of mind to the saver, to the depositor in the first place ”, highlighted Massa.

In this regard, he said that an offer of two baskets gives “the possibility of having a debt program that even deactivates that idea of ​​the bomb, that every two or three months something is about to explode and that gives it a maturity curve 2024, 2025, much more orderly, also associated with the fiscal order program”.

“I read in some media ‘there is a smell of reprofiling’, all those ghosts are over, so let’s work together not only because this allows us to clear up the uncertainty for 2023, which is enormous peace of mind for you and for savers, but because It also has to allow us to be the basis or design it as the basis for other agreements to improve the level of access to credit for citizens, which is ultimately the best way to give our economy a chance,” said the head of the Palacio de Hacienda to the bankers. .

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The meeting headed by Massa, accompanied by his entire team from the Palacio de Hacienda, included the head of the Central Bank, Miguel Ángel Pesce, and the entity’s vice president, Lisandro Cleri; the presidents of the Argentine Banking Association (ABA), Claudio Cesario, and the Argentine Banking Association (ADEBA), Javier Bolzico; the managers of the Macro banks, Gustavo Manríquez; Santa Fe-San Juan Group, Leticia Canclini; Galicia, Fabián Kon, and the ICBC; Alejandro Ledesma; the CEO of Banco Santander, Alejandro Butti; the presidents of the BBVA banks, Martín Zarich; Patagonia, Oswaldo Parré dos Santos, and from Credicoop, Carlos Heller; the treasurer of Banco HSBC, Federico Alcalde Bessia, and the director of Banco San Juan, Claudio Canepa.