Buenos Aires, November 20, 2025 – Total News Agency-TNA-The Argentine government is in advanced negotiations with U.S. banks to secure a loan of approximately $5 billion, aiming to cover a sovereign debt payment due next January. This loan, therefore, appears as a bridge to avoid an immediate liquidity crisis and gain maneuvering room. However, market conditions and creditor demands complicate the progress of the operation. A collapse of the loan, on the other hand, would open the possibility of a technical default or, at least, a strong aversion to new debt, which would complicate the Executive's reformist plan. For now, Argentina is going through a decisive moment: the fragility of its payment schedule is combined with the need to legitimize its reforms and convince the markets that extreme measures will not be necessary. The U.S. banks involved—including some of the major firms like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup—would have conditioned their participation on the presentation of real guarantees or backing from multilateral institutions, which has not yet been resolved. In this sense, the operation is still in a preliminary state and at risk of collapsing if the required terms are not met. The scenario raises several key questions: on the one hand, the use of the loan funds will be exclusively for the debt maturity and not for productive financing. This operation would replace a larger package of around $20 billion, which was rejected by financial institutions due to the lack of clear guarantees. The initiative, initially disclosed by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), describes it as a repurchase line (repo) or short-term facility, designed to allow Argentina to meet the maturity without delay and buy time until its access to the international market improves. According to sources close to the matter, the $5 billion figure corresponds to the overdue payment of some $4 million due in January, which explains the urgency of the process. The talks are taking place in a complex economic context for the country: since taking office, President Javier Milei has undertaken a series of shock reforms, but Argentina continues to face high interest rates, persistent inflation, and a strong dependence on external financing. On the other hand, the refinancing of that amount will depend on the country's ability to again raise resources in the secondary markets or refinance the loan without increasing the interest burden.
