This Tuesday, the Government placed
$42.6 billion of debt in pesos
and cleared
75% of the maturities
scheduled for this year until 2028. The financial operation was the largest bond exchange in Argentine history and with the
help of the public sector
, which was the main holder of the eligible securities, while private banks had a low participation.
The Ministry of Economy called on Friday to exchange
$ 54 billion,
almost the total of the debt payments for 2024 and this Tuesday "the Ministry of Finance reached an acceptance of 77% of the TOTAL maturities of the securities that expired in 2024 and In this way, $42.6 billion were cleared," reported a statement from the portfolio headed by Luis Caputo.
The measure not only allowed
extending maturities in a year in which the
financial surplus
is sought
, but also
getting rid of dollar-adjusted and dual bonds
(tied to inflation and the exchange rate), which were more than half of the basket. eligible.
Thus, without maturities indexed to the official dollar, the Government raised another obstacle to abandon the stocks in the middle of the year, as Javier Milei intends.
The public sector was key.
According to 1816,
only the Central Bank, the FGS of ANSES and the Banco Nación explained 66%
of the holding of the titles at stake, which put an important floor to the exchange.
The BCRA bought bonds in 2022 and 2023 to indirectly finance the Treasury and since it cannot participate in primary Economy tenders, the exchange was the way to renew maturities.
Among the public banks, the
Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires
, which responds to Axel Kicillof, decided not to enter the exchange;
while others opted for the short section to 2025. Within the private segment, banks - the main holders - showed little adhesion, while
mutual investment funds
would have had a greater participation, although they have just over 6% of the holdings, according to 1816 .
"
The private sector contributed approximately 17.5%
of its holdings, while the public sector contributed almost entirely," acknowledged Economía.
The official data reflects the loss of interest of several banks in an exchange that offered them 8 new securities tied to inflation (Boncer) with long terms (2025 to 2028), replacing fixed-rate, dollar-linked and dual securities from 2024 .
"A priori, a good result, an acceptance ratio of between 65/70% posed a minimum threshold to evaluate the operation as successful, so the 77% adhesion rate is quite encouraging. We are struck by the 17.5% private, which reflects that public holdings were above the 64% that we had estimated," said
Pedro Siaba Serrate, PPI analyst.
One of the main reasons for the lack of enthusiasm in the private sector was the decision of the Central Bank
not to renew the puts
(sale options).
The entity has already bought about $11 billion in puts from banks, but the IMF asked to eliminate them.
Thus, without that insurance, by which the entity undertakes to buy their bonds in the event of a fall in their prices, it was difficult to convince them.
On the other hand,
"investors do not want to extend deadlines,
private participation is weak," said an operator.
The BCRA took another key measure on Monday to encourage the exchange:
it lowered the reference rate from 110 to 80% nominal annual
- a level that would be lower than the yields of the new Treasury bonds - and eliminated the minimum floor for fixed terms. which led the banks to lower it to 70%.
"Already on Monday, strong sales of bonds in pesos were seen in the secondary market and the Central Bank bought the Lecer of May, they were probably the funds that were sold to buy bonds that were included in the exchange, but before the rate reduction it was giving that movement, if it sought to motivate the banks, it did not motivate them," said economist Gabriel Caamaño, from the consulting firm Outlier.
The exchange, the first of Javier Milei's administration, is part of Caputo's plan to reduce the deficit, contain the official dollar and liquefy pesos to lower inflation.
According to Economía, with the result "the average life of the maturity profile was stretched from 0.46 years to 3 years and
the financial burden was reduced, implying interest savings of $555,000 million or 0.1% of GDP.