Scott Bessent confirmed this Wednesday the intention to create a new $20 billion fund
The announcement took place in parallel with the progress of a currency swap agreement for 20 billion dollars between the United States Treasury and the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA), according to Reuters. “In fact, we've been working on this for weeks,” Scott Bessent declared to a group of journalists at the Treasury Department.
The United States Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, announced on Wednesday the intention to create a new private fund of 20 billion dollars aimed at supporting Argentina. The proposal seeks to strengthen the South American country's debt market through the joint participation of private banks and sovereign funds.
“We're working on a 20 billion dollar fund that would be alongside our swap line, made up of private banks and sovereign funds, which I believe would be more targeted at the debt market,” Bessent stated during a conference with journalists in Washington.
According to his statements, the total support from the United States to Argentina will be about 40 billion dollars. The official added that the U.S. Treasury has been in contact with the international financial sector for weeks, highlighting that “it's a private sector solution for Argentina's upcoming debt payments” and that “many banks are interested and several sovereign funds as well.”
The official explained that “it's a private sector solution for Argentina's upcoming debt payments,” and added that “many banks are interested and several sovereign funds have also expressed interest.”
Bessent's statements, referring to the progress of an additional fund, in addition to the already announced currency swap, were made in Washington before the press. In that context, the secretary confirmed that the U.S. Treasury intervened on Wednesday in the Argentine foreign exchange market, buying pesos for the second time. The first similar operation had taken place the previous Thursday, with the aim of stabilizing the local exchange front.
During his presentation at a forum in Washington, and in subsequent statements to the press, Bessent emphasized the Treasury's efforts to gather private support to help strengthen Argentina's financial stability.
