Private Sector External Debt Report

This quarterly report analyses the evolution of the external debt of the private sector, with an opening at the level of the main debt instruments.

The external debt of the private sector totaled USD 83,358 million as of 06/30,22, registering a quarterly increase of USD 2,712 million. This increase was explained by an increase in commercial debt of USD 3,923 million (mainly due to debt from imports of goods), while financial debt showed net cancellations of USD 1,211 million in the second quarter.

The external commercial debt of the private sector totaled USD 43,589 million as of 06/30,22, with an increase of USD 3,923 million in the quarter and by USD 5,104 million compared to 06/30,21. The external debt for exports of goods totaled USD 5,782 million as of 06/30/22, showing an increase of USD 298 million compared to the previous quarter and a fall of about USD 1,831 million compared to the same period in 2021.

For its part, the external debt for imports of goods totaled USD 28,202 million as of 06/30,22, the highest value recorded since the beginning of the series. Compared to the end of the previous quarter, it showed an increase of USD 3,485 million and an increase of USD 5,420 million in the year-on-year comparison. This increase in debt could be explained by the effect of the adjustments to foreign regulations and changes in import payments, which came into force as of December 2021.

External debt for services reached USD 9,605 million as of 06/30/22, registering an increase of USD 140 million compared to the previous quarter and accumulating an increase of USD 1,516 million in the year-on-year comparison.

The external financial debt of the private sector totaled USD 39,768 million as of 06/30,22, with net cancellations of USD 1,211 million in the quarter and USD 2,664 million compared to 06/30/21. The decline in the quarter was mainly explained by the category of financial loans for USD 720 million and debt securities for USD 356 million.

As of 09.16.20, through Communication “A” 7106 and later through Communication “A” 7230, “A” 7422 and “A” 7466, in line with the efforts made by the National State and after having successfully completed the process of restructuring sovereign debt in foreign currency, the BCRA established the guidelines under which private sector companies could initiate a process of refinancing their debts financial securities with abroad and/or local debt securities denominated in foreign currency, which would allow its maturity profile to be adapted to the guidelines required for the normal functioning of the foreign exchange market. In this context, the renegotiations registered during the second quarter of 2022 of some 14 companies impacted on lower net purchases in the foreign exchange market of about USD 890 million compared to the original maturities for that same period. In this way, lower net payments of about USD 3,500 million were accumulated from the issuance of the original rule until the end of June 2022.