In the midst of the controversy over debt levels, the Finance Secretary of the Ministry of the Economy reported that in February the national public debt – excluding the Provinces and the Central Bank – was reduced by US$1,629 million: went from U$S 395,779 million to U$S 394,150 million.
Thus, in the first 2 months of this year, the national debt was reduced by the equivalent of US$2,389 million.
However, in the last 12 months it accumulates an increase of the equivalent of U$S 27,578 million.
As in January, in February, as a counterpart to debt relief, the BCRA International Reserves reached a balance of US$ 38,709 million, recording a decrease of US$ 2,708 million partly for the payment of interest to the International Monetary Fund of approximately US$700 million, the net sale of foreign exchange and the valuation losses on net foreign assets.
In the first 2 months of this year, the Central Bank’s reserves decreased by US$ 5,889 million against a debt reduction of US$ 2,389 million.
The Financial Report shows that in February debt in the normal payment situation decreased by US$ 1,605 million: US$ 848 million reduced foreign currency debt and the equivalent of US$ 757 million debt in pesos.
The decline in foreign currency debt occurred, to a large extent, for the 1.5% drop in the price of Special Drawing Rights (DEG) the currency in which the IMF carries out its transactions. For this reason, the dollar debt to the IMF decreased by US$ 686 million: from US$ 43,475 million to US$ 42,839 million at the end of February.
In March, with the new IMF disbursement, exceeding this month’s maturities, debt will start to rise again and reserves will also increase, albeit to a lesser extent.
In February, however, payments of USD 132 million were made to the rest of the international organizations, while loan disbursements amounted to USD 70 million.
34% of the debt in the normal payment situation is contracted in local currency while the remaining 66% is in foreign currency. And 75% corresponds to National Treasury Securities and Bills, 20% to commitments with External Official Creditors, 4% corresponds to Transitional Advances 2 and the remaining 1% to other instruments.
In turn, interest of the equivalent of USD 961 million was paid in February, of which 79% was in foreign currency. Interest payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for USD 695 million have been highlighted, which correspond to the 2018 Stand-By loan and the 2022 Extended Facilities programme.
The Financial report clarifies that “over the past 12 months, the stock of gross debt in normal payments increased by the equivalent of $27,578 million, due to an increase in foreign currency debt of $8,675 million and an increase in the debt in local currency for an amount equal to USD 18,903 million”.
Source: Clarin
