Argentina’s private external debt rises to US$87.711 billion

The private external debt of Argentina stood at US$87.711 billion at the end of the first quarter of the year, according to official reports released on Thursday.

A report from the Central Bank of Argentina indicated a US$526 million increase in private external debt compared to the last quarter of 2022.

This quarterly rise was attributed to an increase in commercial debt, whereas there were net cancellations in financial debt.

Compared to the first quarter of 2022, the private external debt saw an increase of $7.954 billion.

As per the report, the private sector’s external commercial debt totaled US$49.838 billion as of March 31, witnessing a rise of US$888 million in the quarter, and US$10.777 billion on a year-on-year comparison.

The Central Bank’s report recalled its resolution passed in September 2020.

The resolution required private sector companies to initiate a refinancing process for their external financial debts or local debt securities denominated in foreign currency.

The measure was part of a series of regulations intended to restrict purchases of foreign currencies in the domestic exchange market, aiming to preserve monetary reserves.

In this context, the report mentioned that since the enactment of the rule, net payments from renegotiations accounted for 40% of the original due amounts.

This contributed to reducing net purchases of foreign currencies in the exchange market by approximately $4.800 billion.