Argentina repays part of its U.S. currency swap

Argentina’s Central Bank announced on Friday it has repaid the portion of the US$20 billion currency swap with the United States’ Treasury that it drew on in 2025. The announcement is the first public confirmation by the monetary authority that part of the facility had been “activated.” According to a communiqué by the Central Bank, the payment was made in December, for “transactions carried out during the fourth quarter of 2025.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote in a post on X that, “reflecting its strengthened financial position, Argentina has both quickly and fully repaid its limited draw on the swap facility with the United States.” He added that the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF), the emergency reserve fund from where the swap came from, “currently does not hold any pesos” and “never lost money.” “Our nation has been fully repaid while making tens of millions in USD profit for the American taxpayer,” he added. Argentine economist Christian Buteler said that the U.S. Treasury earnings came from interests paid by the Central Bank. “Their profit is our loss,” he wrote on X. The swap Last October, the United States and Argentina agreed on a US$20 billion currency swap line. Once it is agreed, the country has to “activate” it to be able to get the funds and use them freely. Even though the spent amount and terms remain confidential, Argentine economists analyzed Central Bank data last November and concluded that Argentina had used part of the swap. Experts stated that the country used those U.S. dollars to pay for the U.S. Treasury’s intervention ahead of the October 26 mid-term elections, when the Trump administration bought pesos to quell a run on the South American currency. Analysts calculated that the U.S. sunk well over US$2 billion to prop up the peso, although the figure has not been made public. Bessent then confirmed that Argentina had, indeed, activated the swap. On Friday, Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo thanked Bessent on X for his “swift response to blatant attacks whose sole purpose was to destabilize our government at a time when our most committed people are focused on long-term change.” A source in the Central Bank told the Herald that the US$20 billion currency swap remains in force “under the agreed terms,” which will not be made public.