Economy Minister Luis Caputo has just presented his Financial Plan for 2026 and 2027, a scheme that, according to experts, is tailor-made for financial capital. The goal is clear: ensure that banks and large investors collect their debts while the people sink into a sea of debt. Foreign currency debt maturities will rise from $19.2 billion in 2026 to $24.9 billion in 2027, a 50% jump that already puts state accounts at risk.
But the story does not end there. While Caputo assures that they will not need to resort to either Donald Trump or the IMF, Argentine families are being forced into debt to buy food, pay rent, or cover basic services. According to consulting firm Focus Market, one in four workers who received half of their year-end bonus will use it wholly or partially to pay off debts. Only 10% will allocate it to vacations. Income scarcity and multiple jobs have become the new normal.
A study by BAE Negocios indicates that 23% of those receiving the bonus will use it to pay financial obligations, and 16% will apply it to expenses, services, and usual household outlays. In total, 39% will use that income to sustain their daily economy.
According to data from the Central Bank, the number of people in arrears reached 5,825,163 delinquent debtors in May. Between mid-2024 and mid-2025, the total debt mass of families jumped more than 70%. From January 2025 to today, delinquency on credit cards and personal loans more than tripled.
Caputo, in an attempt to distance himself from responsibility, blamed families themselves for over-indebtedness. He said they miscalculated, thinking inflation would erode their debts. An explanation that, for many, is an insult to intelligence. “If Caputo were right, it would be an atypical phenomenon of accelerated change in individual preferences toward risk, worthy of Harvard. Or perhaps we are a country of bad speculators,” analysts ironize.
The reality is that banks, those that do know how to make money from money, are charging interest rates that double inflation. Personal loans have a passive rate of almost 70% annually, not including financial cost or VAT. Virtual wallets, for their part, reach 200% annually. Meanwhile, public deposits yield much less. The difference is the banks’ profit.
Caputo’s Financial Plan, at its core, is a bet on resignation. The government trusts that society will accept this reality without questioning, that young people will renounce a better future. And it counts on an opposition that “lets it happen” and even supports the imposed coordinates. But external debt and household debt are more linked than they seem. As in the 1998-2002 crisis, when popular mobilizations chanted against the IMF and debt, today the situation is similar, albeit with different actors.
Caputo himself, the “Messi of finance” for some, is a financial speculator who analyzes reality from his logic of making money from money. But the majority of Argentines do not speculate: they need a loan to make ends meet. And while the government guarantees payment to external creditors, families sink into a pit of debt from which it is increasingly difficult to escape.
The question that remains floating is: how long will popular patience hold? Because if Argentine history has shown anything, it is that external debt and adjustment always end up exploding in the faces of those who govern.
Para mí este plan Milei-Caputo es una estafa monumental, le garantizan la guita a los bancos mientras laburantes y jubilados se funden en deudas. Más de 5 millones de argentinos en rojo y ellos festejando, son unos vendepatria. Esto huele a choreo, la deuda es ilegítima y no se paga.
para mi milei y caputo hacen lo correcto pagando la deuda los zurdos llorones no entienden nada argentina necesita confianza no planes de zurdos a laburar y dejar de llorar vagonetas