LatinNews Daily - 17 August 2026

*Argentina’s government led by President Javier Milei has eased restrictions on banks lending US dollars to companies without foreign currency income. This comes as part of efforts to expand credit and boost economic activity. Decree 736/2026, a decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) published in the official gazette on 14 August, amends Article 23 of a 2002 decree that had largely restricted dollar lending to exporters and firms that do not generate foreign currency. Under the new rules, lending to previously ineligible companies may not exceed 15% of each bank’s dollar deposits, and will carry stricter capital requirements, which will be equivalent to 125% of that applied to comparable loans, while credit exposure weighting will be set at 1.25 times that usually applied. Banks must also assess borrowers’ repayment capacity under different exchange rate scenarios, the central bank (BCRA) said. Announcing the new measure, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said dollar deposits held by the private sector had risen from US$14.1bn in December 2023 to US$40.3bn currently, while dollar loans rose from US$3.7bn to US$24.6bn over the same period. Defending the measure, he argued idle dollar savings served nobody: “People lose money if they keep it under the mattress. It’s not good for people, and it’s not good for the country, because if those dollars go into the financial system, banks can lend them to companies at a rate that allows those companies to run more profitable businesses, create jobs, and generate the kind of momentum we’re trying to achieve.” He said the measure targeted labour-intensive sectors such as construction and the automotive industry. Caputo said the measure complemented the government’s ‘fiscal innocence law’, which came into effect in February and is designed to encourage Argentines to deposit undeclared US dollar savings into the formal banking system.

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