U.S. support for Argentina could hit $40 billion
The Trump administration is working on an additional $20 billion support package for Argentina. If completed, it would bring the total price tag of a U.S. backstop plan for Buenos Aires to $40 billion. “It is a private-sector solution to Argentina’s coming debt payments,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said of the latest round of funding Wednesday.
Bessent said the United States would arrange funding commitments from banks and sovereign wealth funds to cover the second $20 billion tranche. The comment was most likely designed to allay growing fears that U.S. taxpayers will supply the funds for the administration’s extraordinary financial rescue plan for Argentina.
Argentine President Javier Milei — a close ally of President Donald Trump — is struggling to maintain public support for his massive budget cuts and austerity programs. The prospect that Milei’s reforms could stall has spooked international investors, some of whom have responded by selling their holdings in Argentine pesos. Faced with a currency sell-off, the Trump administration recently began purchasing pesos to stabilize their value.
The intervention most likely helped stem some of the losses, and Bessent confirmed Wednesday that purchases are still underway. But experts say even tens of billions of U.S. dollars would still fail to fix systemic issues that have weakened Argentina’s economy for decades. Since 2000, Buenos Aires has defaulted on its sovereign debt obligations three times.
more... https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/us-support-argentina-hit-40-billion-rcna237852
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