Argentina’s central bank said on Monday it signed a US$20 billion exchange rate stabilisation agreement with the US Treasury Department, six days ahead of a midterm election.
The central bank’s statement said the agreement sets forth terms for bilateral currency swap operations between the US and Argentina but it provided no technical details.
“Such operations will allow the BCRA to expand its set of monetary and exchange rate policy instruments, including the liquidity of its international reserves,” the central bank said, using an acronym for itself.
It said the pact was part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance its ability to respond to foreign exchange and capital markets volatility.
The US Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for details on the new swap line and had not issued its own statement about the arrangement.
Bessent has said that the US would not put additional conditions on Argentina beyond President Javier Milei’s government continuing to pursue its financial austerity and economic reform programmes to foster more private-sector growth.
