The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, publicly asked that Argentines bring their dollars to the banking system and warned that keeping them out of the formal circuit harms the country’s economy. “You are losing money… but the one that loses the most is the country,” said the official, referring to savings in US currency kept outside the financial system.
The statements were made during his presentation at the 7th Investment Forum organized by the Mendocino Business Councilwithin the framework of activities linked to the National Harvest Festival in the province of Mendoza. In that meeting with businessmen, the head of the Treasury Palace insisted on a line of speech that the Government has been maintaining for months: encouraging Argentines’ savings in dollars—often called “mattress dollars”—to enter the financial system to expand credit and economic activity.
During his speech, Caputo appealed to the idea of “social responsibility” to justify this request. As he explained, when dollars remain outside the financial system they are not transformed into loans for companies or financing for the real economy. “Those dollars are money that is not channeled into credit. When SMEs complain and say ‘we don’t have credit,’ how are we going to have it if they have savings in their homes?” said the minister in front of the business audience.
The proposal is part of a broader strategy of the economic team of Javier Milei’s government, which seeks to promote the use of dollars saved by Argentines outside the formal system. According to estimates cited by official organizations and analysts, the Government estimates that there are around 170,000 million dollars outside the banking circuitresources that it intends to channel into the economy through regulatory measures and changes in the financial system.
In parallel, the minister’s own financial situation has been the subject of public debate. According to his sworn asset declaration presented to official organizations, Caputo maintains 99.9% of its liquid money in deposits abroadwhile only a minimal fraction is found in accounts in Argentina. The document records deposits outside the country for several million dollars, concentrated mainly in bank accounts in US currency.
The same sworn statements indicate that within the country the minister has significantly smaller amounts—around a few million pesos in local accounts and a minimal sum in cash—in contrast to the funds declared abroad. Previous reports also mentioned that Caputo had detailed deposits in external jurisdictions such as the Isle of Mana territory associated with favorable tax regimes, although in its most recent presentations the exact location of most of the funds appears simply as “deposits abroad.”
The presence of financial assets abroad is not new in the minister’s career. His name appeared in international journalistic investigations such as Paradise Paperswhere he was linked to offshore structures related to investment funds during his previous activity in the financial sector. Caputo maintained at the time that there was no conflict of interest and that he no longer had a stake in those companies.
Thus, while the Government promotes policies so that Argentines incorporate their savings in dollars into the local financial system, the minister himself faces questions for keeping most of his liquid assets outside the country, a contrast that fuels the political and economic debate about the credibility of the official strategy.
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