The Government will have to wait between two and three weeks to start the bond swap
that was targeted by economists and the opposition.
That is the time that the audit entrusted to the UBA could take to determine if the operation can cause losses to the patrimony of the ANSeS or other public organizations.
The Faculty of Economic Sciences agreed to issue an opinion after receiving the formal request from the Ministry of Economy on Tuesday.
"The audit request arrived today and we are going to do it, the opinion will be ready between two and three weeks once we agree with the Economy
," they confirmed from the house of studies.
The minister revealed days ago that he was going to advance along this path and spoke on Friday night with the vice-rector of the UBA, Emiliano Yacobitti.
Last night, before traveling to the US, he sent the request to the house of studies and the General Audit Office of the Nation (AGN).
Although the radical leader preferred that the evaluation go through Congress, he finally ended up giving the go-ahead.
Economy seeks to clear up the questions that plagued the exchange, without going through Congress, since the opposition seeks to repeal the decrees and filed a criminal complaint for "emptying" the ANSeS Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS) through "forced" sale of bonds in dollars in exchange for titles in pesos.
Through DNU 164/2023, the Government ordered the exchange of Global bonds and the sale of Bonares for a dual bond in pesos (adjusted for inflation and devaluation) maturing in 2036. Massa asked the UBA and the AGN to rule if the measure may entail a loss for the entities holding the bonds or if, on the contrary, it revaluates the value of the assets.
The Faculty of Economics responded that it will be limited to a technical evaluation.
"It is not up to the UBA, in institutional terms, to rule on the convenience or not of economic policy decisions," he said in a statement.
And he specified that the consultations "do not cover the set of operations or the totality of potential impacts of the requested valuation itself."
That means the test will not take into account the impact of the operation on the Treasury, a key point for some consultancies.
"They go out to bust bonds at ridiculously low prices, to the point that they do an audit, but the question is wrong, it's not just how ruinous it is for the FGS, but also for the Treasury," said Pablo Repetto, head of research at Aurum. .
Massa anticipated last week that "if the opinion says that it is not beneficial, ANSeS will not intervene in the exchange."
And from the UBA they point out that the report that the Faculty of Economics will issue "will not imply an opinion on those operations and their potential consequences, for which, as mentioned, it has not been consulted."
The intervention on the ANSeS aims to finance the deficit with the pesos from the sale of its bonds.
This Wednesday, the Treasury will place debt to cover maturities for $288,000 million.
The other goal is to contain financial dollars amid the accelerating loss of reserves.
The agency is the largest holder of bonds in dollars after the BCRA.
For economists, the effects are dubious.
Since the announcements were leaked, the CCL fell 2.5% (from $399 to $389) and the MEP 1.5% (from $386 to $389), while the reference bonds for the operation (GD30 and AL30 ) fell 7% and the Central Bank lost more than US$700 million in its reserves.
