All Options on Table to Support Argentina’s Economy, Bessent Says

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said all options are on the table to support Argentina’s economy.

In a Sept. 22 thread on X, the senior administration official stated that the Latin American country “is a systematically important” ally in the region.

According to Bessent, the Treasury Department is committed to employing measures within its mandate to help Argentina.

“All options for stabilization are on the table,” he said.

Bessent identified various options the United States has to assist Argentina in its road to recovery after its “long history of decline.”

This includes swap lines, direct currency purchases, and purchases of U.S. dollar-denominated government debt from the Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund.

“Opportunities for private investment remain expansive, and Argentina will be Great Again,” he said.

Bessent noted that he will attend the meeting between President Donald Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 22 and will provide more details following the meeting.

“We remain confident that [President Milei’s] support for fiscal discipline and pro-growth reforms is necessary to break Argentina’s long history of decline,” he stated.

Milei will also meet with Kristalina Georgieva, director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Milei’s Agenda Under Threat

Since Milei’s ascent to the presidency, Argentina’s economy has undergone a substantial transformation, mainly through a significant reduction in government spending and the implementation of economic reforms.

Sweeping austerity measures have allowed the Milei government to shift into the black after years of fiscal deterioration.

In his first year in office, the president delivered the nation’s first budget surplus in more than a decade.

He and his team have also outlined budget blueprints for 2025 and 2026 that would continue the trend of fiscal responsibility, calling it a “non-negotiable cornerstone” of his economic agenda.

On the macroeconomic front, Argentina’s economy expanded by 7.6 percent in the second quarter—the fastest pace in almost two decades.

The monthly inflation rate was 1.9 percent in July, down from as high as 26 percent in December 2023.

Consumer spending has been robust in the first half of 2025, while the urban poverty rate dropped to a seven-year low.

However, Argentina’s financial markets have been rocked over the past month after a massive defeat of Milei’s party—La Libertad Avanza—in local elections at the hands of Peronistas.

The growing opposition to the libertarian-leaning president stoked concerns that it would be harder to implement his economic reforms.

The S&P MERVAL Index—a benchmark stock market index for Argentina—has fallen by more than 11 percent in the past month.

The peso has declined by about 6 percent against the U.S. dollar since mid-August.

Bond prices have also experienced major selloffs since the electoral losses.

Demand for U.S. dollars is increasing as institutional investors fear political upheaval.

To satisfy demand, Argentina’s central bank recently executed its largest daily dollar sale in close to six years using domestic reserves to support the peso.

The total amount sold on Sept. 19 was $678 million, bringing the final tally to approximately $1.1 billion over three days.

As a result, possible financial assistance from the United States could be a lifeline for Argentina.

In April, Milei signed a $20 billion, four-year loan agreement with the IMF, which required the Argentine government to abolish currency controls that he inherited from previous governments.

Milei said that although Buenos Aires has received IMF funding before, it feels different this time.

“It’s the first time in history the fund approves a program that isn’t to finance a macroeconomic transition from disorderly to orderly, but to support an economic program already bearing fruit,” Milei said in a national address in April.

Exploring Potential US Options

Currency swap lines are arrangements between two central banks to exchange currencies with each other—a move that facilitates liquidity in global currency markets amid market stress.

The Federal Reserve last utilized enormous dollar swap lines at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, injecting liquidity into global financial markets to halt dollar shortages and limit widespread panic.

Direct foreign currency purchases by a government or central bank are a policy designed to influence or stabilize currencies and exchange rates.

Direct currency purchases have not been used on a wide scale in recent years, but they were more common in the 1980s to prevent a dramatic appreciation of the U.S. dollar.

The Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund is a stabilization program designed to support foreign governments during times of economic difficulty.

During the 2008 global financial crisis, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson drew on the Exchange Stabilization Fund to guarantee money market funds following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Reuters contributed to this report.