Argentina issues Treasury bonds in pesos to rebuild currency reserves

The measures are therefore aimed at dismantling controls and the traceability of financial transactions. The aim is to get money out of the system.

There is considerable wealth outside the official system: various estimates put the figure at between USD 200 billion and USD 400 billion. More precisely, the government is working on a new phase of its economic programme aimed at changing the tax reporting system. The main objective is to ensure that dollars held by informal savers become part of the banking system and are used for consumption, investment and/or credit multiplication. It has been presented as a simplification plan, approved by the International Monetary Fund. It is, in other words, a strategy of the economic team to inject dollars into the economy and find new ways to cover the growing current account deficit.

The Tango Bonds

The return to the bond markets harks back to the dramatic affair of the tango bonds and the Argentine default that occurred between 2001 and 2002. There were 450,000 Italian savers entangled and on that occasion Italian banks were also accused of having sold high-risk bonds.

Many years later, on 21 April 2016, the international agreement between the Argentine Republic and Tfa (Task Force Argentina) was signed in New York, whereby the Latin American state committed to compensating the bondholders subscribing to the Tango Bonds. After long and complex negotiations, the Argentine Treasury Ministry and Tfa (which had received a mandate from thousands of Italian bondholders to take legal action against the Icsid Arbitration Tribunal) reached an agreement that allowed savers to recover 150% of the nominal value of the bonds originally subscribed.