United States President Donald Trump’s administration has offered to step in to support Argentina’s economy amid severe volatility in the country’s financial markets.
Washington stands ready to do “what is needed” to help stabilise the Latin American country’s economy following a large-scale selloff of its assets, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday.
Options for assisting Buenos Aires under consideration include central bank currency swaps, direct currency purchases, and purchases of US dollar-denominated government debt, Bessent said.
Further details would be announced after talks involving Trump, Bessent and Argentinian President Javier Milei in New York on Tuesday, the treasury secretary said.
“Opportunities for private investment remain expansive, and Argentina will be Great Again,” Bessent said on X, describing Buenos Aires as a “systemically important US ally”.
The Argentinian peso, stocks and bonds surged following Bessent’s comments.
Milei, who scored an upset election win in 2023 by promising to tame runaway inflation and decades of economic decline, thanked the Trump administration for its “unconditional support”.
“Those of us who defend the ideas of freedom must work together for the well-being of our peoples,” Milei said on X.
The Argentinian leader has emerged as a key Trump ally in the Americas and is a favourite of US conservatives, frequently appearing on their platforms.
The Trump administration’s intervention comes after investors rushed to unload the peso and government bonds following a disastrous performance by Milei’s La Libertad Avanza coalition in local elections earlier this month.
The defeat in Buenos Aires province has cast a pall over Milei’s prospects in nationwide midterm elections next month, which the libertarian leader hopes will grant him an expanded mandate to pursue his programme of right-wing economic reforms.
In April, Argentina secured $42bn in bailout funds from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank to help prop up its economy.
The Latin American country, which has lurched between economic crises for decades, is by far the IMF’s largest debtor, owing the Washington-based institution more than $40bn.
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