Santiago Bausili tamed Hernán Lacunza over the delays and recalled how the credit system works

The president of the Central Bank, Santiago Bausili, and the former Minister of Economy and now politician Hernán Lacunza starred in social media over the delinquency among families who took out loans.

The exchange occurred after the Government ruled out state intervention to relieve those who have accumulated payment delays. President Javier Milei had indicated that this is a problem between private parties.

Lacunza made an analogy: “A car crash is also a problem between private parties. Sometimes, later, the police, an ambulance, or a judge has to intervene. That is, the State. No one thinks that the judge should pay for the damages with public money; rather, they review compliance with regulations and encourage voluntary agreements.”

He added: “The same goes for credit. If it is ramped up to 100 per hour to recover lost consumption, without financial education, it is more likely to hit the bumps.”

The response from the head of the BCRA

Although Lacunza did not directly mention Bausili, the president of the entity responded firmly. “Weak, Hernán. You jumped from being General Manager of the BCRA to Politician almost without any stops. You transform resolving an economic dispute between private parties into a completely false sense of lack of oversight. As if you didn’t perfectly know how reality works,” he wrote.

The former head of Treasury during Mauricio Macri's administration continued the debate and provided figures. “I don’t matter. But you don’t matter either. What matters is that 28% of debtors are in default (12.8% in amount, 15.5% including wallets),” he indicated.

He also pointed out that if the forecasts for real wages were too optimistic, the repayment capacity would be lower. According to Lacunza, these are typical contracts where the lender knows more than the borrower, and sometimes the installments hide very high rates, especially with inflation on the decline.

In that vein, the former minister questioned the official perspective and stated that denying the problem would be an additional concern. “Leaving so many people on the sidelines is not an option. But I know your capability. I know you will resolve it without using state money,” Lacunza hinted at Bausili.