Argentina
Caputo said the 2027 Budget foresees another year with a financial surplus
The economy minister defended the continuity of the government’s program and said the bill sent to Congress includes a fourth consecutive fiscal year with a positive financial result. He also highlighted export performance and the expected contribution from energy and mining.
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, said during an event organized by the Cámara de Exportadores de la República Argentina that the 2027 Budget bill sent to Congress foresees a fourth consecutive year of financial surplus. According to him, that would be an unprecedented event for Argentina without the country being in default.
During his remarks, the official defended the continuity of the economic course and called for maintaining fiscal discipline in the face of short-term pressures and the political context. In that framework, he said there is no need to move away from the official program because of the “political anxieties of the moment” and argued that “populism is not fought with more populism, it is fought with more orthodoxy.”
Caputo linked that strategy to the evolution of exports. As he explained, the government aims to expand foreign-currency generation through tax cuts, deregulation, lower financing costs and infrastructure improvements. Along those lines, he said more than 17,000 regulations were eliminated or reduced and markets were opened for more than 3,500 million people.
According to the data he presented, there were increases since December 2023 in different export sectors, including soybeans, corn, wheat, sunflower, lithium, fishing and the oil-petrochemical segment. He also said the country is at record levels of exports in volume.
On the external outlook, he estimated that the 2026 trade surplus could stand between USD 27,000 million and USD 28,000 million, above other projections that place it near USD 25,000 million. He also projected that energy and mining exports could reach USD 61,000 million in 2031, about USD 40,000 million more than the current level.
According to BAE Negocios, the minister said there are still projects worth about USD 150,000 million that have not been approved and are not included in that projection. In his view, a greater supply of foreign currency would contribute to exchange-rate order, stability and predictability.
Caputo also called on the private sector to invest. “There is no longer a financial business; now there has to be a real business,” he said, and asked companies to support the process. At that point, he also questioned local prices for products such as cars, home appliances, tires and clothing compared with those in neighboring countries.
Radio Mitre added that the minister avoided anticipating details about inflation and the exchange rate in the 2027 Budget, although he estimated an improvement in activity of 2.5% by the end of 2026. According to that outlet, he also predicted that by 2027 Argentina will have accumulated between 16 and 17 points of growth since December 2023.
The bill will now begin its treatment in Congress, amid a new round of negotiations by the Executive Branch with governors and lawmakers.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this event.
