Thanks to the adjustment of the peso debt linked to inflation, and despite the debt payments made last month, the stock of gross public debt rose in February to a total amount equivalent to $386,537 million.
This is an increase of $5,265 million from $381,272 million in January, according to Secretary of Finance records.
Compared to the previous month, debt in a normal payment situation increased by the equivalent of $5,259 million. The change is due to the increase in local currency debt by an equivalent dollar amount of $14,012 million, while in foreign currency it was reduced by $8,753 million.
Of the total, debt in pesos represents 32.51% and that in foreign currency 67.49%. As of February 2023, 34% of debt in a normal payment situation was incurred in local currency, while the remaining 66% was in foreign currency.
After the strong liquefaction due to the devaluation in December, in January and February the debt in pesos increased again due to the placement and variation of bonds and securities adjustable by the CER (inflation) or linked to the dollar which increased in January to the equivalent of the US dollar 7,991 million and in February another 12,371 million dollars. And to the extent that inflation rises above the change in the official exchange rate, peso debt valued in dollars must continue to grow, absorbing the liquefaction of December.
Debt rectifiable by the CER went from the equivalent of $46,143 million in December to $56,077 million in January and $74,662 million in February.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (OPC), more than 90% of peso debt is incurred in CER bonds (which are adjusted for inflation) or dollar-linked bonds (which are adjusted to the official exchange rate).
This debt level does not include the debt of the Provinces and the Central Bank.
For its part, the International Reserves of the Central Bank (BCRA) ended February with a balance of 26,690 million dollars, recording a decrease of 951 million dollars compared to the end of January, according to the BCRA Monetary Report published last Friday.
The BCRA Monetary Report explains that this loss was explained by “payments to international organizations. In particular, in February a payment was made to the International Monetary Fund for 776.1 million dollars (expiry of interest under the Extended Facilities Agreement) and the CAF loan granted in December for “966.4 million dollars.” There were also foreign currency bond payments.
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
