Buenos Aires, January 4 (NA) -- With the arrival of 2026, the new exchange rate scheme announced by the Central Bank (BCRA) has been put into action, which aims to attract more foreign currency to strengthen reserves. In this context, on January 9, more than US$4.2 billion must be paid for debt maturities. According to Argentine News Agency, this Friday, January 9, a payment of US$4.225 billion must be made for debt maturities. While the government has US$1.8 billion, it remains to be seen how the remaining amount will be financed to execute the operation. The official report did not outline the way to raise the rest of the funds, although it is expected that an international loan with private banks (REPO) will be used, which allows them to secure the final amount. This possible route was indicated by Minister of Economy Luis Caputo, who stated that through this operation they would already have the funds available to meet the January maturities. The fact is that these US$1.8 billion come from the placement of BONAR 2029N, the purchase of reserves, and the partial or total use of the US$700 million that will come from hydroelectric concessions. In this context, the Minister of the Economy does not rule out issuing a new bond to secure part of the financing. Although the new exchange rate scheme, in which floating bands are updated around the latest inflation data, has already begun to take effect, the entity led by Santiago Bausili has not yet purchased foreign currency. On Friday, reserves closed at US$43.099 billion (US$1.934 billion more) due to usual early-month movements in the financial system. INDEC publishes data on industry and construction INDEC shared the January publication calendar. (Photo: NA Agency / Social Networks) In what will be the first official week of 2026, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) will begin to disseminate the key indicators of the Argentine economy. Among them are the data on industry and construction, both corresponding to November. The industrial sector continues to not rebound: the latest data showed a fall of 2.9% against October 2024 and 0.8% against September. It has been on a downward trend for four consecutive months: July (-0.8%), August (-4.3%), September (-0.5%), and October (-2.9%). As for construction, the sector shows better numbers than industry: it rose 8% year-on-year although it fell 0.5% in the monthly comparison. In the accumulated ten months of the year, it presented an increase of 7.9% compared to the same period of 2024.
