The external debt of the private sector totaled USD 78,075 million as of 31.12.20, registering a quarterly fall of USD 953 million, explained entirely by the fall in financial debt (USD 1,282 million), since commercial debt showed a rise of USD 329 million.
The external debt for exports of goods totaled USD 5,383 million as of 31.12.20, showing an increase of USD 356 million compared to the minimum level of the previous quarter, basically explained by the “Manufacture of food products” sector, which increased its debt in the quarter by USD 450 million, but with a fall of USD 3,112 million compared to the same period of the previous year.
The external debt for imports of goods totaled USD 22,047 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020, showing a net cancellation of USD 280 million compared to the end of the previous quarter and USD 1,092 million in the last year.
External debt for services totaled USD 7,799 million as of 12/31/20, showing an increase of USD 254 million compared to the end of the previous quarter (USD 101 million explained by debt to related companies and USD 153 million to unrelated companies) and USD 810 million compared to the end of the previous year (USD 453 million corresponded to debt with related companies and USD 357 million to unrelated companies).
External financial debt totaled USD 42,846 million as of 31.12.20, with a quarterly fall of USD 1,282 million and USD 2,293 million in year-on-year terms. The decrease observed in the quarter was mainly explained by the fall of USD 734 million in deposits of non-residents in local financial institutions, followed by the net cancellation of debt securities for USD 276 million and financial loans for USD 216 million.
As of 09/16/20, through Communication A7106, the BCRA established the guidelines under which private sector companies could initiate a process of refinancing their foreign financial debts and/or local debt securities denominated in foreign currency, which would allow their maturity profile to be adapted to the guidelines required for the normal functioning of the foreign exchange market.
In this context, the renegotiations recorded during the fourth quarter of 2020 had an impact on lower net purchases in the foreign exchange market of about USD 500 million compared to the original maturities for the same period. Likewise, the profiling of financial debt maturities improved towards the end of 2020.
