Argentina repaid the $2.5 billion it drew down from a $20 billion swap line President Javier Milei signed with the administration of President Donald Trump, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent announced over the weekend.
The $2.5 billion payment was reportedly issued alongside a broader $4.3 billion debt repayment that includes key payments to bondholders.
“I am pleased to announce that, reflecting its strengthened financial position, Argentina has both quickly and fully repaid its limited draw on the swap facility with the United States, such that the Exchange Stabilization Fund currently does not hold any [Argentine] pesos,” Sec. Bessent announced on social media.
Sec. Bessent explained President Donald Trump’s policy of “Peace Through Economic Strength is transforming Latin America in ways that are America First, surrounding the United States with stability and prosperity.” He described the deal as an “America First homerun deal” and detailed that it not just stabilized a strong ally of America in the region, but it also made “tens of millions in profit for Americans,” setting the course for Latin America and Argentina “that helps anchor a prosperous Western Hemisphere is in our clear best interest.”
Sec. Bessent wrote:
In summary, Treasury deployed the Exchange Stabilization Fund exactly in-line with its congressional purpose and our ESF actions worked precisely as Congress intended: to stabilize Argentina in its crisis moment of acute, short-term, and urgent illiquidity pressure on both exchange rate and financial stability. The international community – including the International Monetary Fund through its large existing program – has been unified behind and remains strongly supportive of Argentina and its current reforms and prudent fiscal strategy. But only the United States could act as swiftly as we did in October to preserve market and exchange rate stability.
To reiterate, the ESF has never lost money. Our nation has been fully repaid while making tens of millions in USD profit for the American taxpayer. With Argentina stabilized, the markets are now meeting the Argentine Republic’s financing needs under President Milei’s visionary leadership. President Milei and Finance Minister Luis Caputo are building positive momentum, and we anticipate their continued progress.
President Milei appeared to have celebrated the announcement with a simple post that read, “Facts kill false narratives. Period.” He accompanied the text with a picture of himself and Economy Minister Luis Caputo.
“Thank you very much, Secretary Bessent and President Donald Trump for your confidence in our economic policy and for your swift response to blatant attacks whose sole purpose was to destabilize our government at a time when our most committed people are focused on long-term change,” Economy Minister Caputo wrote in a Friday social media post.
“It is an excellent reality for our country to have been able to build this geopolitical alliance and to know that we have the explicit support of the most important country in the world,” he continued.
In early October, the United States signed a $20 billion currency swap deal with Argentina’s Central Bank that saw the U.S. agree to purchase up to $20 billion worth of Argentine pesos in exchange for U.S. dollars using resources in the Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund with the goal of helping Argentina stability its foreign exchange market and reserves amid President Milei’s ongoing “shock therapy” policies that seek to overturn nearly two decades of disastrous socialist policies. As of October, Argentina had traded $2.5 billion worth of pesos through the swap line.
Argentina’s Central Bank (BCRA) detailed on social media on Friday that, on December 2025, it settled the transactions carried out during the fourth quarter of 2025 with the U.S. Treasury Department under the October $20 billion swap deal.
“As announced in October 2025, this exchange rate stabilization agreement establishes the terms and conditions for bilateral currency swap transactions between both parties,” BRCA explained.
The Argentine outlet Infobae reported that BCRA’s balance sheet for the week of December 23, 2025 shows a $2.5 billion transaction marked under the category of “Other liabilities” which corresponds to the swap deal with the U.S. and an increase of the same amount in the “Obligations to international organizations.” According to Infobae, this allowed Milei’s economy team to comply with the commitments to the Trump administration “without lowering the BCRA’s reserves.”
According to Infobae, Argentina took out a new loan with an international organization for the same amount, although, to date, neither the name of the creditor institution nor the terms of the new financing are known. Argentine Central Bank sources confirmed to the transaction to Infobae, but did not disclose further details on which foreign entity provided the currency to pay off the swap — but clarified that it was not the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
“The agreement and the transactions are confidential. All of these transactions are reflected in the BCRA’s balance sheets, which are available on our website,” unnamed Argentine Central Bank sources told the newspaper La Nación on Friday when asked for the swap deal payment to the United States.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that Argentina faces a similar $4.3 billion debt repayment bill in six months, noting that investors expect that the Argentine government has secured international market access by then, which eases concerns about repayment capacities. Bloomberg further noted that the Argentine government announced changes to its currency policy in December that allow the Argentine peso to trade more freely in addition to a $10 billion reserve-accumulation program.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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