ARGENTINA: The US’ 40-Billion-Dollar Package & more – 23rd Oct 2025

¡Buenos días from Greenway Parks! This is the Rorshok Argentina Update from the 23rd of October twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Argentina.

Let’s start with an update on the big story from last week: the massive US financial lifeline for Argentina. The package is bigger than anticipated. Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, confirmed the deal now includes a twenty-billion-dollar currency swap and a twenty-billion-dollar private fund facility, bringing the total support to forty billion dollars. That private facility, which is still being organized, is designed for investment funds and banks to invest in Argentina’s sovereign debt.

Despite this, the pressure on the peso is intense. The US Treasury has been actively intervening, selling dollars to support the currency. Traders estimated they sold over 200 million dollars on Friday the 17th alone, and they were back at it on Tuesday the 21st. But Argentines are still dumping pesos, betting that a devaluation is inevitable after Sunday’s elections. The official dollar exchange rate hit a record 1,490 pesos on Tuesday the 21st, pushing right against the ceiling of the trading band. This forced Argentina’s Central Bank to jump in and sell more than forty-five million dollars of its own reserves for the first time in weeks.

That pressure on the peso is directly linked to the political uncertainty we mentioned last week, stemming from US President Donald Trump’s comments. As we covered, Trump tied the financial aid package to the results of the midterm elections, which sparked major market volatility.

This week, Trump defended his statements, telling the US press that Argentines are fighting for their life and dying. The Argentine government tried to manage the fallout. Manuel Adorni, the Presidential spokesman, said Trump’s comments were reasonable and just an attempt to explain Argentina’s deep economic problems to an American audience.

In a related move, Trump also suggested the US might import more Argentine beef to lower domestic prices, a comment that quickly angered US ranchers.

On that note about the elections, the crucial midterms are this Sunday, the 26th of October. In the final stretch, President Milei abruptly changed strategy. He pulled out of all remaining campaign events in the key Buenos Aires Province, where polls show his party is trailing Peronism. Instead, he’s focusing on friendlier cities like Córdoba in central Argentina and Rosario, a major port city in the northeastern Santa Fe province, leaving Diego Santilli, his coalition ally, to manage the final campaign week in Argentina’s largest district.

Meanwhile, the government lost a procedural battle over the vote count. The National Electoral Chamber ruled that results must be reported by district, which is the traditional method. This struck down a government plan to group the results into a single national count, a move the opposition argued would artificially benefit the ruling party.

As the vote approaches, the administration is already holding closed-door meetings with opposition leaders to negotiate support for the twenty twenty-six budget.

And as soon as the election is over, win or lose, expect a major cabinet reshuffle. President Milei confirmed he will reaccommodate his team to push reforms. High-ranking sources report that Gerardo Werthein, the Foreign Minister, and Mariano Cuneo Libarona, the Justice Minister, are expected to leave their posts.

Other changes are forced. Patricia Bullrich, the Security Minister, and Luis Petri, Defense Minister, are candidates and will likely leave to take their seats in Congress. The biggest move, however, centers on Milei’s top advisor, Santiago Caputo. After months of working informally, Caputo is expected to take a formal, powerful role, which is reportedly causing serious tension with Guillermo Francos, the current Cabinet Chief.

While the political team shuffles, the government awarded the 700-million-dollar contract for the Perito Moreno Gasoducto expansion to Transportadora Gas del Sur. This project will help move more natural gas from the Vaca Muerta shale patch, reducing the need for expensive imports. And from Washington, Luis Caputo, the Economy Minister, announced a second-stage economic plan that will include labor and tax reforms, which he says are needed to make Argentina competitive.

But not all government funding plans are moving forward. University professors held a twenty-four-hour nationwide strike on Wednesday the 22nd to protest the administration’s actions on their budget.

Even though Congress recently passed a new University Financing Law, overriding a presidential veto, the government used a legal maneuver to block it. They officially promulgated the law but simultaneously suspended its application.

The administration argues that the law, which allocates 1.96 trillion pesos (about 1.3 billion dollars) for university salaries and operations, cannot be applied until Congress specifies exactly where the funds will come from.

This move effectively freezes the new funding, and the government used the same tactic to suspend a Pediatric Emergency Law for the Garrahan Hospital.

That lack of funds is being felt across the board. Retail sales for Mother’s Day plunged 3.5% compared to last year, marking the fourth year in a row of declines for the holiday. The Confederation of Medium-Sized Enterprises reported that even widespread discounts failed to boost spending, as families have lost purchasing power.

Speaking of funds, the Central Bank is facing accusations that it is hiding information about the country’s gold. The National Audit Office says the bank is obstructing its investigation into the location and status of Argentina’s gold reserves, following reports last year that gold bars were shipped abroad.

The Central Bank says the information is confidential, but the National Audit Office counters that this makes a technical audit impossible. The head of the audit office ended up telling Congress that they don’t know where specifically the gold is. The standoff could end with Santiago Bausili, the bank’s president, being summoned by Congress or even facing a lawsuit.

Going back to the topic of US ties, a new investigative report shed light on the unofficial channels between the two administrations. It details the deep involvement of Barry Bennett, a lobbyist with strong ties to Donald Trump, who has been acting as an unofficial conduit for the Milei government in Washington. Argentina’s intelligence services reportedly hired Bennett, who works as a partner with Leonardo Scatturice, an Argentine businessman.

And Bennett isn’t the only big name in town, as Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan, is in Buenos Aires this week. His visit, described as part of a high-level bank meeting, is happening just days before the critical midterm elections. JPMorgan has been expanding its presence in Argentina, recently signing a lease for twenty floors in a new office campus in the city.

If you’re also in the city, you may be interested in knowing that, after eighty-nine years, the Obelisco is finally opening up as a viewpoint. Starting the 1st of November, visitors can take a new elevator sixty-seven meters up to get a 360-degree view of the city. Tickets will cost 18,000 pesos for Argentine residents (about twelve dollars) and 36,000 pesos for non-residents (about twenty-four dollars).

The city government also announced a major infrastructure project, officially calling for bids to build the new subway line F. This new line will connect Barracas to Palermo with twelve new stations, and construction is scheduled to start in twenty twenty-six. In the meantime, if you take the A line, be aware that this week, the Loria station closed for three months of renovations.

If you had trouble paying for things on Monday the 20th, you were not alone. A massive global outage at Amazon Web Services knocked thousands of platforms offline. In Argentina, the outage paralyzed financial services like Mercado Pago, Naranja X and Ualá, leaving many users unable to make payments or access their accounts for several hours. Fortunately, the issue is now resolved.

Finally, to end on a nature note. Scientists from Argentina and Uruguay are launching the South Atlantic Shark Conservation Initiative. The team plans to tag and track several shark species, including the sand tiger and sevengill shark, to better understand their migration patterns. The goal is to use this data to push for stronger legal protections for these predators in the region.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

This past Saturday, we held a trial of a new kind of gathering. Highly structured but radically equal, very wild. No keynote speakers, no talking heads. Those who join decide who they talk to, but without knowing the identity of who they will meet, they propose and decide what they will discuss. Like we said. Wild, interested in what it was, check the show notes and if you’re interested, we can help you hold one in Argentina.

¡Nos vemos la próxima semana!