The national government once again showed numbers in the green in January and confirmed that the fiscal anchor is the core of the economic program
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The national government began the year with a new fiscal surplus, reaffirming the consistency of the economic program promoted by President Javier Milei and implemented by the Ministry of Economy. In a context of strong political and legislative pressures inherited from 2025, the National Public Sector (SPN) managed to close January with a positive result both on the primary and financial fronts, a forceful signal of macroeconomic stability.
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, reported through the social network X that in January the SPN achieved a primary surplus of $3,125,737 million and a financial surplus of $1,105,159 million. According to the official, during the month there were extraordinary revenues of $1,039,903 million, caused by the resources from the tender for the private operation of the Comahue hydroelectric plants.
Luis "Toto" Caputo, ministro de Economía.
Caputo clarified that, without accounting for those exceptional revenues, the result would still have been positive: the primary surplus would have risen to $2,085,834 million and the financial surplus to $65,256 million, which reinforces the strength of the fiscal balance even without extraordinary factors.
In parallel, the minister detailed that in January net interest payments of $2,020,578 million were made. He explained that January and July are the months with the largest relative interest payments, due to the maturity of the coupons on the Bonares and Globales bonds, thereby dismissing any interpretation that might play down the fiscal effort made by the current administration.
From the spending point of view, total primary spending fell 0.7% year-on-year in real terms, while the resources allocated to contributory retirements and pensions grew 2.8% year-on-year and the Universal Child Allowance (AUH) increased 4.1% year-on-year, disproving narratives that insist on associating fiscal discipline with indiscriminate social cutbacks.
"The Ministry of Economy will continue to ensure the fiscal anchor, an essential pillar of the economic program and a necessary condition for the stability and growth of the Argentine economy", Caputo stated. In that framework, he emphasized that fiscal discipline made it possible to return resources to the private sector in the form of tax cuts equivalent to 2.5% of GDP since the beginning of the administration, one of the central banners of the libertarian government.
The Government is keeping negotiations open with the International Monetary Fund to review the fiscal and reserve accumulation targets. The institution's technical mission arrived in Buenos Aires to assess the official projections, with special attention to the reserve target of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA).
The economic team, led by Caputo, held meetings with IMF officials from Thursday, February 5, until Thursday of last week. Official sources indicated that, although the mission formally concluded, the talks will continue in the coming weeks.
Some analysts argue that the fiscal balance target for 2026, set at 2.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is demanding in a scenario of slowing activity and lower tax collection. However, the Government emphasizes that the fiscal path has already proven to be viable even in the months of greatest financial stress.
Luis Caputo en X
Two consecutive years of surplus
January's results add to a historic fiscal performance. The year 2025 closed with both a primary and financial fiscal surplus. According to official data, the primary surplus was $11,769,219 million (1.4% of GDP) and the financial surplus reached $1,453,819 million (0.2% of GDP), marking the second consecutive year with positive results.
Although in December 2025 the SPN recorded a primary deficit of $2,876,450 million and a financial deficit of $3,290,302 million, the result was due to the seasonality of spending and did not alter the favorable annual balance.
Caputo stressed that this is the first time since 2008 that Argentina has achieved two consecutive years of cash-basis financial surplus, and that since the beginning of the historical series in 1993 this result had never been reached while meeting all public debt service obligations. In that regard, he stated: "The fiscal anchor has been an essential pillar of the economic program since the first month of the administration, and it is reflected in the 2026 Budget."
The official report also indicated that primary spending in 2025 was 27% lower than in 2023 in real terms, while spending on AUH and the Food Card grew 43% in real terms between December 2023 and December 2025. Thanks to this targeted approach, coverage of the basic food basket rose from 55% to 92%, consolidating a framework that combines fiscal discipline, debt compliance, and social protection, in stark contrast to the deficit-driven model of the past.
