Due to the sharp devaluation, peso debt and the stock of gross debt have shrunk in dollar terms In December it decreased from $425,294 million to $370,664 million.
According to the Secretary of Finance, “in the twelfth month of 2023, the stock of gross debt amounted to a total amount equivalent to $370,664 million, of which $368,215 million was in a normal payment situation.
Compared to the previous month, the debt in a normal payment situation decreased by the equivalent of 54,610 million dollars, representing a monthly decline of 12.92%. The change is explained by the increase in debt in foreign currency for 272 million dollars and by the decrease in debt in local currency for an equivalent value in dollars of 54,882 million dollars.
Even with the devaluation of Sergio Massa, in August the equivalent debt in dollars was reduced (by approximately 10,000 million dollars) but in the following months it rose again, reaching the record figure of 425,294 million dollars in November.
The reason why this is expected increase again is that more than 90% of peso debt is contracted in CER bonds (which are adjusted for inflation) or dollar-linked bonds (which are adjusted to the official exchange rate), according to the Congressional Budget Office (OPC) report.
The same thing is therefore expected to happen in January and February due to the transfer to these securities of the inflationary surge of December and that expected for January since the adjustment of these securities in pesos operates with a certain delay compared to the inflation itself, weight devaluation.
This level of debt It does not include the debt of the Provinces and the Central Bank.
Due to the sharp decline in December, “over the past 12 months the stock of gross debt in a normal payment situation decreased by the equivalent of 25,849 million dollars, due to the increase in foreign currency debt by 1,520 million dollars and the decrease in local currency debt by an amount equivalent to 27,369 million dollars,” reads the Financial Report.
The Report also indicates that “76.3% of the gross debt in a normal payment situation corresponds to National Treasury securities and bills, 21.4% to obligations towards external official creditors, 1.4% corresponds to advances transitional and the remaining 0.9% to other instruments”.
For its part, of the 264,471 million dollars of debt in foreign currency, 74,211 million dollars are contracted with international financial organizations, of which 40,890 dollars are deposited in the IMF.
Another $67,190 million corresponds to debts with the Central Bank, classified as non-transferable securities maturing until 2033, due to reserves that the National Treasury used to pay debts to private creditors and international organizations. Together with the securities held by ANSeS and other public bodies, they constitute what is called intra-public debt that the megabill wants to “consolidate” (deregister).
The Ministry of Finance clarifies that “due to the recommendations of statistical manuals and based on international definitions, the dollar is used as a unit of account to ensure comparability and standardize statistics. In this way, all figures are expressed in their equivalent in dollars by applying the exchange rate of the last business day of the period to convert into that currency the remaining debts issued and payable in: pesos, special drawing rights (SDRs), euros, yen, etc.”
Source: Clarin
