Caputo to Unveil Economic Measures as Argentina Faces Arrears Crisis
Argentina · ECONOMY
Key Facts
- —Announcement Caputo speaks at 10:00 on Wednesday 26 August 2026 at the Palacio de Hacienda
- —Announced centerpiece a ARS 2 trillion (about US$1.32 billion) mortgage-credit scheme funded through the ANSES sustainability fund (FGS), targeting 17,000–18,000 families
- —Household stress 12.8% of family loans were in arrears in June; credit-card arrears hit 12.6%
- —Debt test the Treasury faces 12.6 trillion pesos (about US$8.3 billion) in maturities at this week’s auction
- —Congress first-round votes sought on the Central Bank charter reform and Fiscal Innocence II
A mortgage-credit gambit, a heavy debt test and two make-or-break bills: Caputo’s Wednesday is the economic team’s biggest day of the second half.
Argentina’s Economy Minister Luis Caputo holds a press conference at 10:00 on Wednesday 26 August 2026 at the Palacio de Hacienda in Buenos Aires to unveil the Caputo economic measures trailed in the local press, capping a week in which his team faces a record household arrears crisis, a heavy debt auction and a decisive congressional vote on two flagship bills.
What the Caputo economic measures include
The announcement was confirmed after the government’s political-table meeting at the Casa Rosada, according to local media, and national outlets reported that the centerpiece was a new financing scheme to reactivate the mortgage-credit market. The plan channels long-term liquidity to banks through the Fondo de Garantía de Sustentabilidad (FGS), the sovereign fund administered by the ANSES pensions agency that backstops the public pension system.
By putting the FGS into play as a leverage vehicle, the scheme is designed to extend funding terms and cut the origination costs of housing loans, according to details reported by the Argentine press. It complements the recent easing of foreign-currency lending rules for companies that do not generate dollars, part of a broader push to get private credit moving again before the 2027 electoral cycle.
Caputo has form in using set-piece conferences to shift market expectations, and the Caputo economic measures announced on 26 August 2026 were read as much for their political signal as for their technical content.
The household arrears crisis behind the package
The urgency is visible in the Central Bank’s debtor registry. Some 12.8% of household loans were in arrears in June, with credit-card delinquency at 12.6%, according to BCRA data, a level unthinkable in late 2024, when the comparable ratio was 2.5%. Consultancy Focus Market calculates the irregular portfolio almost quadrupled in twelve months, from 2.7% in January 2025 to 10.6% in January 2026, with personal loans deteriorating fastest.
The monetary authority moved this week to contain the damage, capping the reference rate on financing from non-bank card issuers at 66.44% nominal annual for the September billing cycle. Retail data, meanwhile, show household consumption falling across categories, evidence of what analysts describe as a widening gap between the government’s celebrated macro aggregates and the reality of family budgets.
It is this social pressure that the Caputo economic measures must answer. Cheaper, longer mortgage credit would not cure arrears, but officials believe reviving formal credit is the only sustainable route to rebuilding household solvency without fiscal giveaways.
A decisive session in Congress
Hours after the Caputo economic measures are unveiled, the government will seek first-round approval in the Chamber of Deputies for two priority bills. The first is the reform of the Central Bank’s charter, a project steered by vice-minister José Luis Daza that would grant the institution technical independence and explicitly ban direct financing of the Treasury, provinces and municipalities.
The second, known as Fiscal Innocence II (Inocencia Fiscal II), aims to offer legal certainty to Argentines who bring part of the estimated US$170 billion held outside the formal financial system into the open. After committee debate, the draft now excludes public officials from the scheme’s benefits, a concession to critics who called the original a whitewash.
President Javier Milei received deputies and senators at the Casa Rosada on Tuesday to lock in votes, according to El Cronista, ahead of a session widely seen as a test of the government’s remaining congressional allies. Tax specialists caution that the take-up of any asset-declaration regime will depend on how much legal security investors believe Argentina can credibly offer.
A US$8.3 billion debt test, with no dollars on the menu
The week’s third front is financial. At this week’s auction the Treasury faces maturities of 12.6 trillion pesos (about US$8.3 billion at the wholesale rate of 1,511 per US$), down from an original 13.9 trillion after a bond swap with the Central Bank, according to brokerage Adcap. The Treasury holds deposits of roughly 8.3 trillion pesos (about US$5.5 billion) at the BCRA, giving it room to let part of the debt lapse and return liquidity to the system.
Significantly, the five-instrument menu, comprising three fixed-rate peso securities, one inflation-linked letter and one dollar-linked letter subscribed and settled in pesos, contains no US-dollar bond. The Treasury has therefore decided not to seek dollars from the local market this time, a shift after it had already cut takes on the dollar-denominated Bonar 2029 to US$50 million per round in mid-August, with US$774 million still available under the bond’s US$2,000 million cap.
The decision lands amid fresh currency pressure: the wholesale dollar broke through the 1,500 ceiling on Monday, jumping 0.7% to a record nominal 1,510, and edged up to 1,511.50 on Tuesday. Within the maturities sits a dollar-linked commitment equivalent to US$2,595 million whose repayment exchange rate is fixed on Wednesday, the brokerage PPI noted, making the day’s FX print doubly sensitive.
How investors read the government now
For all the domestic noise, foreign managers have not abandoned the Argentina story. Bank of America’s August survey of 30 Latin America fund managers running about US$90 billion found roughly 33% expect further improvement in Argentine assets over the next six months, against 23% neutral and a marginal negative share, making the country a relative exception in a region where risk appetite fell to its lowest since April 2025.
The government is also keen to show momentum beyond finance: on Monday it formally awarded eight highway concessions covering more than 3,900 kilometers under 20-year toll contracts, one of the largest infrastructure privatizations of the Milei era.
What happens next hinges on three verifiable outcomes: the implementation of the Caputo economic measures, the rollover rate at the debt auction, and the headcount in the Deputies’ vote. A clean sweep would strengthen the economic team’s hand into September; a stumble on any front would revive questions about the program’s political shelf life.
What Caputo Announced
At the 10:00 press conference on 26 August 2026, Economy Minister Luis Caputo confirmed a ARS 2 trillion mortgage-credit programme (approximately US$1.32 billion at the wholesale exchange rate of 1,511 pesos per US dollar) drawn from the Fondo de Garantía de Sustentabilidad (FGS) of ANSES. The fund will place long-term fixed-term deposits with banks through competitive auctions, with the Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA) organising the tenders and monitoring compliance. Caputo was flanked by BCRA Vice-Director Baltasar Felipe Romero Krause and FGS Director Juan Cruz Michele.
The programme will be rolled out in ARS 200 billion tranches (about US$132 million each), with the first auction scheduled for next week. Banks will bid for FGS deposits under two maturities: a one-year tranche at a minimum rate of UVA + 2.50%, and a five-year tranche at UVA + 4.50%. The mortgage loans funded by these deposits will carry a maximum rate of UVA + 7.50%, a minimum term of 15 years, and a ceiling of 150,000 UVA per loan. Caputo estimated the overall package would deliver housing solutions for 17,000–18,000 families.
To illustrate affordability, Caputo cited a US$106,667 home (financed at 75% loan-to-value). A household with a combined net monthly income of ARS 3,460,391 would face an initial monthly payment of ARS 865,089 at a rate of UVA + 7% over 25 years. The instalment is capped at 25% of net household income, and Caputo noted it would be comparable to current market rents for similar properties. The minister framed the initiative as addressing a structural gap: Argentina’s mortgage stock equals just 2% of GDP, against 27% in Chile and a historic 75% in the United States. [Sources: Ámbito Financiero, El Cronista, Página/12, 26 August 2026]
Frequently Asked Questions
What time is Luis Caputo’s press conference on 26 August 2026?
Economy Minister Luis Caputo spoke at 10:00 on Wednesday 26 August 2026 at the Palacio de Hacienda in Buenos Aires. The announcement was confirmed after the government’s political-table meeting at the Casa Rosada, and the main measure was a ARS 2 trillion mortgage-credit scheme funded through the ANSES FGS.
What do the Caputo economic measures include?
The Caputo economic measures centre on a ARS 2 trillion mortgage-credit scheme funded through the FGS, the ANSES-administered sovereign fund, which injects long-term liquidity into banks via competitive fixed-term deposit auctions. The programme targets 17,000–18,000 families with mortgage rates capped at UVA + 7.50%, minimum 15-year terms and a maximum loan size of 150,000 UVA. The first ARS 200 billion auction is scheduled for next week.
What is Fiscal Innocence II and why does it matter?
Fiscal Innocence II (Inocencia Fiscal II) is a bill offering legal certainty to Argentines who declare part of the estimated US$170 billion they hold outside the formal financial system. The government seeks first-round approval in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday; the current draft excludes public officials from its benefits.
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