The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA)'s decision to end the LEFI produced a substantial change in July's financial dynamics and marked a turning point in public debt management.
The president of the institution, Santiago Bausili, explained that until that moment, banks deposited their peso surpluses daily at the BCRA, which absorbed them at the end of the day and returned them with interest the following morning. This mechanism, which ensured immediate liquidity and steady returns, disappeared overnight, forcing institutions to adapt to a different scheme.
The end of these operations coincided with significant maturities of debt in both local and foreign currency. According to the Congressional Budget Office, in July, commitments in pesos amounting to 42.6 trillion and in dollars amounting to 4.825 billion had to be met. This scenario put pressure on the market, which faced adaptation difficulties and resulted in an average increase of 7.6% in the wholesale dollar exchange rate.
Javier Milei y Luis Caputo.
Despite that context, the Finance Secretariat, led by Pablo Quirno, managed to reduce Central Administration debt by the equivalent of 18.153 billion dollars compared to June, closing the month at 447.202 billion.
Subsequently, with the help of the increase in official deposits at the BCRA, which rose by 1.549 billion and reached 13.240 billion, a further consolidated decrease was achieved, of 19.702 billion dollars, leaving the stock at 433.962 billion.
The fiscal discipline strategy promoted by Javier Milei's government, together with the recapitalization of the Central Bank after the agreement signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April, allowed this process to be sustained. The official report revealed that debt operations during July reached 69.452 billion dollars: 30.726 billion in new issuances and 38.726 billion in cancellations, resulting in a net decrease of 8.000 billion for the month.
Luis Caputo, ministro de Economía.
In detail, debt under foreign legislation was reduced by 1.264 billion, to 161.225 billion, while debt contracted under domestic legislation fell by 16.889 billion, to 285.977 billion. Meanwhile, debt with international organizations other than the IMF increased by 1.491 billion, to 38.238 billion, due to the recapitalization of the BCRA and the ongoing reform program. In contrast, obligations with the IMF decreased by 772 million, to 54.546 billion.
The Treasury also made progress in reducing advances received from the Central Bank, which fell by 400 million and stood at 3.026 billion. Thus, although between November 2023 and July 2025 the gross debt of the Central Administration grew by 21.908 billion, the adjustment for transfers of BCRA liabilities to the Treasury and the increase in official deposits made it possible to show a net reduction of 52.989 billion dollars in the consolidated stock.
