Argentina places government debt in local currency equal to U$654 million

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina placed this Wednesday in the domestic market Treasury bills in local currency for a total effective value of 65,593 million pesos (about US$654.3 million) and also managed to exchange bonds maturing next July.

According to the Ministry of Economy press release, this Wednesday’s operation included the placement of Treasury bills in pesos maturing next September and an annual nominal rate of 39.21%, for a total effective value of 9,136 million pesos (about US$91.1 million).

In the bidding, 583 million pesos (about US$5.8 million) in bills with maturity in September and an annual nominal interest rate of 39.26% were also allotted.

Bills maturing next November and with an annual nominal rate of 40.24% were also auctioned, for a total of 2,523 million pesos (US$25.1 million).

Also, two types of bills with a yield tied to inflation were tendered, one maturing in March 2022 for 29,781 million pesos (US$297 million) and the other maturing in May 2022, for 23,570 million pesos (US$235.1 million).

On the other hand, in Wednesday’s operation, 36,778 million pesos (US$366.8) million of the nominal value of Boncer 2021 bonds maturing next July were voluntarily converted into a basket of securities composed of bonds maturing in September 2022, for 51,540 million pesos (US$514.1 million), and bonds maturing in August 2023, for 84,567 million pesos (US$843.5 million).

Today’s was the second of the three tenders programmed by the Ministry of Economy for June, continuing the strategy of resorting to the domestic market implemented last year, when the Treasury carried out more than forty operations of this type, to which were added another thirteen in the first five months of this year.

The purpose of these tenders is to obtain financing to meet the Treasury’s successive debt maturities and, in addition, to capture Argentine peso liquidity and thus decompress the demand for dollar purchases by investors for hedging purposes.

In last week’s tender, the Treasury placed securities for 163,063 million pesos (about US$1.6 billion).

According to market reports, this month, Argentina must face debt maturities in the local market for some 245,500 million pesos (US$2.4 billion).

At a meeting organized in Buenos Aires by the Argentine chapter of the Inter-American Council for Trade and Production, the Argentine Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, highlighted this Wednesday the reconstruction of the public debt market in Argentine pesos.

“Total financing in the capital market in the last twelve months grew 128% year-on-year, and the accumulated growth from January-April is 197% year-on-year”, Guzmán pointed out before a group of business leaders.