Argentina places $3.7 billion in first peso debt auction under Milei

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s government placed 2.96 trillion pesos ($3.7 billion) at a debt auction on Wednesday, according to an economy ministry statement, coming in the second week of libertarian President Javier Milei’s term.

Earlier this week, Milei’s government eliminated so-called Leliq transactions, instead offering short-term peso-denominated assets in an effort to broaden the debt instruments available in investors.

The auction marks the first such debt placement in the domestic market from the new government.

The amount placed also totaled more than a third of the currency circulating in Argentina’s ailing economy, which suffers from surging triple-digit inflation as well as a growing poverty rate.

The nominal value of the auction was about 2.5 trillion pesos, according to the ministry.

(Reporting by Jorge Otaola; Writing by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Sarah Morland)

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