Argentina will pay multimillion-dollar debt with help from international banks
This Friday marks the deadline imposed on the South American country to cover more than four billion dollars in sovereign bonds.
Argentina will pay this Friday (January 9, 2026) a multimillion-dollar sovereign bond maturity using its own Treasury funds and part of the financing recently agreed upon with a group of international banks, according to official sources.
The payment commitment, for approximately $4.3 billion, corresponds to interest and principal payments on the bonds. sovereigns, which are mostly in the hands of private creditors. According to official sources, the payment will be made with funds from the Treasury's dollar account at the Argentine Central Bank and with part of the proceeds from the repurchase agreement (repo) with international banks announced last Wednesday.
According to private consultants and investment portfolio management firms, the Argentine Treasury holds approximately $2.209 billion and 6.5 trillion pesos (equivalent to about $4.4 billion) in its accounts at the Central Bank.
International Bank Loan
Meanwhile, through the repo operation, six international banks loaned $3 billion to the Argentine Central Bank, which provided these entities with Argentine sovereign bonds maturing in 2035 and 2038 as collateral. The transaction was agreed upon with Bank of China, BBVA, Deutsche Bank, Santander, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs for a term of 372 days. and an interest rate equivalent to 7.4% per annum.
“Today, the payment for GD and AL bonds will be made. While the payment was never in doubt by the market, investors had been closely monitoring the Treasury's dollar accounts and those of the Central Bank to assess what the final financing mix would be. The Central Bank's repo finally filled the gap, at a lower rate than previous repos,” noted Juan Manuel Franco, chief economist at SBS, in a report this Friday.
The funds from the repo that are not applied to this Friday's payment will remain in the Central Bank's international reserves and may eventually be used for future debt maturities.
With difficulties accumulating monetary reserves, in 2025 Argentina had to sign an extended fund facility agreement with the International Monetary Fund for $20 billion, obtained additional loans from other international organizations, and even sought financial assistance from the United States Treasury.
(mn/efe, afp)