Argentina hopes to finalize US $20 billion swap line before midterm vote

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By Sarah Morland

(Reuters) -Argentina’s Economy Minister Luis Caputo said he hopes to “very soon” execute a framework that will contain the terms of a $20 billion currency swap the U.S. recently agreed with Argentina’s central bank, ideally before this month’s midterm election.

President Javier Milei is seeking to expand his minority presence in Argentina’s legislature in the October 26 vote, and U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled his support of Argentina is conditional on the success of ideological ally Milei.

“Hopefully we’ll very soon be able to execute the framework and agreement that will contain the terms of the swap,” Caputo said during an Atlantic Council panel discussion alongside central bank president Santiago Bausili.

Caputo said the idea was to activate the framework within the next two weeks, ideally before the midterm vote.

Despite Trump’s support for Milei, who has campaigned to solve Argentina’s economic woes through a tough austerity program and dramatically shrinking the size of government, a key local election in Buenos Aires recently handed a resounding victory to his socially-focused opposition.

Trump’s announcement that financial support depended on the outcome of the upcoming vote shook Argentina’s market this week.

Caputo said that regardless of the outcome of the vote, the policies of his administration would remain the same.

He added that the administration was working on additional financial options it could not yet disclose, and that some U.S. businesses had informally pledged billions of dollars in investment during recent meetings.

The swap line was blasted as a “bailout” by some critics in the U.S. concerned by Argentine competition selling soy to China. Bausili said U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent had been clear that the swap line was independent of any agreements with China.

(Reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle and Natalia Siniawski)