Argentina to pay over US$800 million of IMF debt with US backing

The Argentine government will pay more than US$800 million in interest to the International Monetary Fund on Monday, as the country continues to service its massive debt to the multilateral lender. Once again, the payment comes from last-minute backing from the United States, as U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stepped in to assist President Javier Mileis administration. The IMF payment was originally due Feb. 1, but because the date fell on a Sunday, it was rolled over to the next business day, in line with standard practice.  The Argentine Treasury lacked sufficient foreign-currency deposits to meet the obligation, prompting the government to once again turn to an operation with the U.S. government to obtain Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs the IMFs unit of account needed to cover the payment. While details of the transaction have not been made public, official sources said the government obtained the equivalent of about US$808 million in SDRs belonging to the U.S. Exchange Stabilization Fund.  In October 2025, Bessent had already provided Argentina with SDRs under a currency swap framework agreement. This time, the transaction may have taken the form of a direct purchase. Economy Minister Luis Caputo said in a radio interview that the operation did not constitute a new loan from the US Treasury, but rather a purchase by Argentina of the SDRs required to meet its IMF obligation. Still, financial dealings between Argentina and the United States remain largely opaque. For example, the financial terms including the interest rate paid by Argentina of the alleged activation of a US$2.5 billion swap tranche during pre-election market tensions were never disclosed by either government. That money was repaid before the end of the year, reportedly using funds borrowed from another international lender, possibly the Bank for International Settlements another transaction for which no official details were released. Upcoming IMF review Mondays payment comes just days ahead of the second review of Argentinas US$20 billion IMF program, signed by the Milei administration in April 2025. An IMF technical mission is expected to arrive later this month to assess compliance with program targets. The outcome of that review will determine the release of a disbursement of just over US$1 billion. The key issue will be negotiations over a new waiver tied to a significant shortfall in the reserve accumulation target. According to official data, by the end of 2025 the Central Bank held US$13 billion less than agreed under the accounting methodology set out in the IMF program. Earlier this month, Caputo briefly met with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva during the World Economic Forum in Davos, where she highlighted the recent resumption of reserve purchases by the Central Bank. Originally published in mbito