In the midst of the global shock, Caputo prepares a plan to pay bondholders until the 2027 elections

“We are going to continue prioritizing the cheapest option, We already have identified financing to cover the next three maturitiess: they are July 2026, January 2027 and July 2027, it is to cover the capital,” said Luis Caputo. “We are talking about the market, not the IMF, It’s more or less US$ 9,000 million.we do not need to go to the market,” he added, and explained that the interests are paid with primary surplus.

After traveling to New York last week, where he met with banks and funds, he said that “there is no whim with Wall Street, it is an issue of cost.” And he admitted that he thought about going on the market in November and December, when his Secretary of Finance was Alejandro Lew, but that he ruled it out because he prefers a “lower rate.” “The market doesn’t know yet, but they will find out in the next two to three months.“he stated.

In this way, the Minister of Economy sought to clear up the doubts that persist on Wall Street about the payment capacity of the debt until the end of the mandate, a sum that reaches US$ 35,000 millionaccording to projections mentioned by the vice president of the IAEF, Pablo Miedziak, during the talk he had with Caputo this morning at the Puerto Madero Yatch Club.

Regarding the rest of the debt, Caputo explained that most maturities “are refinanced”including Bopreal bonds, multilateral organizations. The only thing that is not “automatic” outside the market is the Monetary Fund, with which US$3 billion matures until next year, he stated.

And he reiterated that the plan is to finance itself in the local market, selling assets and with alternative funds, amid rumors in the market that point to possible funding from Arab countries.

The official shared these definitions on a tough day for international markets. Affected by the jump in the price of oil to US$119 (although it later fell to US$107) and the fall in gold, Argentine bonds in dollars fell 1.6% (more than other emerging markets) and the country risk rose to 622 pointswhile shares rose 2.7% in dollars.

However, Caputo minimized the impact of the United States and Israel’s war with Iran and said that if the external shock had occurred in the previous administration, “we would have lasted a minute and a half.” Along these lines, he praised the government’s geopolitical alignment and that the economy is “in order.” “If we continue doing things well, the country’s risk will decrease further,” he assured.

According to the minister, the movement of the index (which measures the additional financial cost of Argentina compared to the United States to finance itself abroad) “is not scientific.” In his opinion, the indicator moves in the short term due to supply and demand and political issues, but in the long term “fundamentals prevail.”

“If the country risk is exaggerated, then the technical position between supply and demand is not so balanced as we would like, and on the other hand, we finance ourselves cheaper to pay more expensive debt, the best of all worlds,” the minister reiterated.

Caputo’s talk coincided with an IMF conference, in which its spokesperson, Julie Kozack, highlighted the Central Bank’s purchase of US$3.5 billion since the beginning of the year and the issuance of dollar bonds by the Treasury in the local market, although she warned that the global environment has become more challenging with the conflict in the Middle East.