A simple and short comic went viral on libertarian networks that shows the Minister of Economy, Luis “Toto” Caputo, as an everyday hero: he arrives, pays the foreign debt in one fell swoop and leaves. No cape or muscles, just him solving the problem with a direct gesture. The meme, spread massively on X by official accounts, celebrates the operation that avoided an immediate default. Javier Milei amplified it by reposting similar content, comparing the financial movement to a “great goal.”
The reality, however, is more complex. Caputo closed a repo loan for USD 3,000 million with a consortium of six banks led by JP Morgan – including Bank of China, BBVA, Santander and Citibank –, at a rate of 7.4% per year in dollars and with AL35 and AE38 bonds as collateral. The term is exactly one year, and this is the third similar operation in the management: before there were repos for USD 1,000 and 2,000 million, with rates that progressively lowered but shorter terms and greater guarantees.
This operation saved an urgent maturity and avoided a default, but the market did not celebrate: the country risk rose 1.6% to 575 points and bonds with shares fell around 3%. Analysts say that it is an emergency patch, typical of countries that do not obtain normal loans, and does not fix the underlying problem: there is a lack of their own dollars and there are doubts about whether it will be possible to pay later.
The big problem is the real reserves of the Central Bank, which remain very low even though it buys dollars every day. The BCRA receives them on one side, but spends or compensates them on the other so that the dollar does not skyrocket and people do not get scared by a devaluation. It is a permanent round trip: buy dollars (issuing pesos), then offer attractive bonuses to calm the demand for foreign currency. Thus, the reserves that the IMF sees increase on paper, but the real ones do not grow in a lasting way.
In the mileist adjustment, the “El Pagadeudas” comic amuses the libertarian troops, but for the market and the opposition it only portrays a minister who refinances obligations on an eternal financial bicycle, taking on debt to pay debt without building solid reserves. The hero, for now, only resolves in vignettes.
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