Bessant reveals US Treasury buys Argentine pesos at unofficial exchange rate

US Treasury Secretary Bensent announced on the social media platform "X" on Friday that the US Treasury Department purchased Argentine pesos at a parallel exchange rate of "blue chip swap" on Thursday, boosting the performance of Argentine bonds. This is the first time Bensent has disclosed such foreign exchange intervention. Previously, the US Treasury Department had purchased pesos at the official exchange rate in the Argentine local market. After the news was announced, Argentine dollar bonds rose, and the 2035 maturity bonds reversed their early decline, rising 0.2 cents per dollar. Despite the intervention by the US Treasury Department, the parallel market exchange rate fell by nearly 1.4% on Thursday. Argentina's official exchange rate is obtained through banking channels, but the public widely uses a variety of unofficial exchange rates in financial and cash transactions, some of which are legal and some of which are in a gray area.