Reform of the BCRA's Charter and AGN Audit on Gold: What Each Document Says

The Executive Branch is working on a draft bill to reform the Charter of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA). This was reported by the Presidency of the Nation in a statement published on its official website, which specified that the announcement is expected in the coming weeks and that the text will then be sent to Congress.

The same document indicates that President Javier Milei provided details of the project during a Cabinet meeting at Casa Rosada, held after the Tedeum for Independence Day. The Presidency did not disclose the content of the draft bill or the main axes of the reform.

Meanwhile, the General Audit Office of the Nation (AGN) released observations on the BCRA’s 2025 financial statements. According to the newspaper article, the AGN maintained that there was a loss exceeding US$1000 million due to a “calculation error” in gold operations. The Central Bank rejected that interpretation and stated that its gold position yielded a positive net result of US$2505 million in 2025.

What the Presidency’s statement says about the reform

The official source confirms that a draft bill is being prepared by the Executive Branch. It does not specify which articles will be modified, nor whether the initiative includes changes to the reserve regime, monetary policy, or the composition of the board. It also does not specify the exact date of submission to Congress.

The text mentions the officials who participated in the Cabinet meeting, including the BCRA president, Santiago Bausili, and the Minister of Deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger. Bausili’s presence suggests that the Central Bank is involved in the drafting, but the statement does not explicitly say so.

The AGN audit and the BCRA’s response

According to the newspaper article, the AGN audited the BCRA’s 2025 financial statements and considered them “reasonable” in their technical aspects. However, it flagged the financial operations related to gold reserves.

The AGN report, according to the secondary source, indicates that during 2025 the BCRA recorded a loss of $1.5 trillion, equivalent to about US$1023 million, from dollar-settled derivative operations that used part of the gold reserves as the underlying asset.

The Central Bank rejected that assessment. It stated that during 2025 its gold position had a positive net result of US$2505 million, due to the combined effect of the metal’s price and the financial hedging operations it routinely applies to its total holdings. It added that financial derivatives acting as insurance “usually record a negative result” because the underlying asset shows a gain, while the hedging instrument absorbs a loss. For the BCRA, the correct evaluation requires considering both parts of the operation jointly and their net effect, which it considered “broadly positive.”

The monetary authority also questioned the AGN’s leadership. It said that “the current leadership of the oversight body is focused on discrediting the BCRA’s leadership, for purely political purposes.” And it recalled that in the 2007-2011 period the AGN did not make observations about the hedging strategy used.

What each document establishes and what remains open

The Presidency’s statement is a primary source on the existence of the draft bill, but not on its content. The newspaper article is a secondary source that partially reproduces the AGN report and the BCRA’s response. Neither the original AGN document nor the text of the draft bill was accessed.

The two sources do not contradict each other because they address different topics: one refers to the reform of the Charter; the other to an accounting audit. The coincidence is that both mention the BCRA and its leadership. The central difference is that the AGN and the BCRA disagree on the interpretation of gold operations: the AGN speaks of a loss from derivatives; the BCRA speaks of a positive net result considering the whole.

There is no independent confirmation of either position in the material. The AGN did not publicly comment in the provided texts beyond what the article reproduces. The BCRA also did not publish its own statement in the available sources.

Value module: comparison of figures

What data or decision to follow

The next relevant data point is the text of the draft bill to reform the BCRA’s Charter and its submission to Congress. It is also worth following the full publication of the AGN report on the 2025 financial statements and the BCRA’s formal response, to verify whether the figures mentioned match the original documents. The discussion about gold and derivatives operations could have implications for reserve management, but the available material does not allow for assessing consequences or responsibilities.