Public Debt: due to the acceleration of inflation, it increased by US$ 28.7 billion in the first three months of the year

It went from US$ 472,135 million at the end of February to US$ 483,830 million, of which US$ 481,312 million were in a normal payment situation.

“With respect to the previous month, the debt in a normal payment situation increased by the equivalent of US$ 11,715 million, which represents a monthly increase of 2.49%. The variation is explained by the decrease in debt in foreign currency by US$ 675 million and the increase in debt in local currency by an equivalent amount in dollars of US$ 12,390 million,” states the report from the Ministry of Finance.

Thus, in the first three months of 2026 the debt increased by the equivalent of US$28,763 million: it went from US$455,067 million to US$483,830 million.

This was due to the fact that public debt has been growing due to debt adjusted for inflation, the appreciation of the peso and the capitalization of interest on securities and bonds. These values ​​do not pay interest and are not taken into account for the calculation of the tax result, but are added to the stock of debt.

In March, debt grew due to:

The conversion of debt in pesos to dollars: US$ 828 million.

Variation in debt adjustable by CER: US$ 5,830 million.

Capitalization of bonds, bills, etc.: US$ 2,466 million.

This sharp increase in indebtedness occurred despite the fact that “in the month of March, the Central Administration made public debt payments for a total equivalent to US$ 13,703 million, of which 94% was made in national currency and 6% in foreign currency. Of the total amount, US$ 13,369 million were allocated to the payment of capital and US$ 334 million to the payment of interest,” the official report states.

In turn, in relation to November 2023, the beginning of Javier Milei’s management, the gross debt increased by US$58,274 million, going from US$425,556 million to US$483,830 million.

The stock of the national gross debt does not include the Central Bank, the provinces and municipalities.

Other data from the report indicates that:

The debt with international financial organizations amounted to US$95,644 million at the end of March, of which US$56,678 million are with the International Monetary Fund. It continues with the IDB for US$ 19,011 million and with the World Bank, for US$ 12,765 million.

During the last 12 months, the stock of gross debt in a normal payment situation increased by the equivalent of US$ 10,209 million, due to the increase in debt in foreign currency by USD 5,976 million and the increase in debt in local currency by an amount equivalent to USD 4,233 million, says the report.

46% of the debt in a normal payment situation is contracted in local currency while the remaining 54% is in foreign currency.

78.2% of the gross debt in a normal payment situation corresponds to National Treasury Securities and Bills, 20.5% to obligations with Official External Creditors, 0.6% corresponds to Transitory Advances and the remaining 0.7% to other instruments. .

Due to recommendations from statistical manuals and based on international definitions, the dollar is used as the unit of account to provide comparability and standardize the statistics. Thus, all figures are expressed in their equivalent in dollars applying the exchange rate of the last business day of the period.