Santiago Bausili did not confirm when the $20 billion swap with the United States will be active.
WASHINGTON.- In his first public appearance since Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that financial aid to Argentina could double to US$40 billion, Central Bank (BCRA) President Santiago Bausili said they expect to activate the US$20 billion swap line “very soon” in the next two weeks .
“We have been working hard for the past two weeks to complete the documentation and hope to execute the framework and the agreement that will contain the swap very soon ,” Bausili said.
When asked if It would be within the next two weeks, before the legislative elections, he replied: "I hope so" .
Bausili's consideration of the swap comes with just 11 days remaining until the October 26 elections, a crucial test for Javier Milei 's administration. Therefore, the instrument put on the table by the Treasury could be activated before the elections.
Bausili said the swap line is a facility on which "We have already reached, conceptually, an agreement on the framework" .
The details "are still being documented," explained the BCRA president, who emphasized that Bessent "has been explicit about his intention to make it available on many different fronts," not just in the foreign exchange market.
In his presentation on a panel at the Atlantic Council alongside Economy Minister Luis Caputo in Washington, Bausili explained that the swap is a "type of facility, a sign of support for providing liquidity to countries that may need it." He mentioned the case of Mexico, which has a current swap with the Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF). "That facility has been in operation for almost 30 years. So the idea here is probably to establish a more updated version of such a facility," he noted.
“I think trying to assess whether it's sufficient or not is inconsistent with the analysis, because we have many tools at our disposal. So the use of one or another will depend on the economic conditions and objectives at any given time. The other tool is market intervention. That's one of them,” Bausili said.
At the end of their presentation, both were asked about Bessent's announcements this Wednesday regarding the possibility of additional aid of another US$20 billion, although they declined to provide details.
"There are other things we're negotiating," Caputo said, though he explained that he couldn't provide details due to the privacy of the negotiations.
"I don't know exactly how far back we have to go to see this level of relationship between our liabilities and our assets at the BCRA. Therefore, I would say that this swap really helps significantly," Caputo said in his response, returning to the soon-to-be-completed swap line.
Regarding the Central Bank's swap with China, Bausili indicated that Bessent was clear in stating that the US aid was independent of any agreement with the Chinese regime. The Treasury Secretary made this point during a meeting with reporters on Tuesday in the Cabinet Room of the White House.
In the audience that listened to Caputo and Bausili was the rest of the economic team, among them the Secretary of Economic Policy, José Luis Daza , and Finance Secretary Pablo Quirno . Also present were the Vice President of the Central Bank of Argentina, Vladimir Werning . The Argentine Ambassador to the United States, Alec Oxenford , also participated in the meeting.
Representatives from Chevron, Citibank, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Banco Galicia, Roche, Mastercard, and Hedera, among others, were in the audience.
Bausili was also asked about the exchange rate bands for the dollar. " Over time, the bands will become irrelevant and disappear, giving way to a system of total and absolute freedom where the market will seek its equilibrium and price without restraint," he said.
He also argued that the dollar's rise in recent weeks, which led to intervention by the Treasury and the United States in the local foreign exchange market, was due to a phase of election coverage that began last July.
Caputo, meanwhile, affirmed that regardless of the outcome of the October 26 vote, his administration's policies will remain unchanged . He added that his team is working on additional financial options that he could not yet disclose.
Regarding the meeting with Trump, Caputo described it as "excellent" and said the US president "was quite aware of the various things we've been discussing with his team."
"Trump is our number one fan. If we continue on this path and these policies, this is an opportunity for all Argentines," the minister added.
The conversation between Bausili and Caputo was dedicated to "exploring Argentina's economic prospects as the country moves from stabilization to sustainable growth," according to the Atlantic Council.
The presentation was moderated by Jason Marczak, vice president and senior director of the Adrienne Arsht Center for Latin America, and Josh Lipsky, president of International Economics and senior director of the Center for Geoeconomics at the Atlantic Council.
Before his presentation at the Atlantic Council, Caputo met with the president of Banco Santander, Ana Botín , whom he defined in a post on X as “a friend of our country.”
Caputo and the rest of the economic team are participating this week in the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) , which runs in Washington until next Saturday. At this time, there is no official confirmation of a possible meeting with the managing director of the multilateral organization, Kristalina Georgieva .
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