Argentina has refinanced about $50.3bn worth of peso-denominated sovereign debt in a record bond swap aimed at relieving pressure on public accounts and easing the path for libertarian President Javier Milei to lift currency controls later this year.
The economy ministry, led by former Wall Street trader Luis Caputo, said on Tuesday that it had swapped titles worth 42.6tn pesos ($50.3bn) — representing 77 per cent of treasury instruments due this year — for those maturing between 2025 and 2028.
Caputo is attempting to eliminate Argentina’s fiscal deficit this year and end the government’s reliance on money printing. The ultimate goal, analysts say, is to curb both the country’s sky-high inflation and the exchange rate pressures that make it risky to lift strict currency controls introduced by previous governments.