Javier Milei has said Argentina will have $125bn at its disposal to repel any run on the peso in 2027, when he will seek a second term to complete his radical economic programme.

The president said the resources would come from commercial dollar inflows, financing arrangements, currency swaps and futures contracts. He also dismissed speculation that Luis Caputo was preparing to step down as economy minister.

“I do not expect a run, but I am preparing for one,” Milei told Radio Mitre journalist Eduardo Feinmann in an interview reported by Infobae. He argued that Argentina was better equipped to withstand pressure on the currency than it had been during the 2025 election period, when midterm jitters drove a sharp sell-off.

The remarks form part of a broader effort by the government to show that it has the means to meet its debt obligations and ride out currency volatility without abandoning its commitment to fiscal discipline.

Last year’s turmoil serves as the benchmark. Milei said the government had absorbed $70bn in pressure in 2025, helped by an additional $2.5bn provided at the last minute by the US central bank. His administration now had greater financial firepower and stronger congressional support to defend its reforms, he added.

The firebrand libertarian said the $125bn came from several sources. These included $25bn in financing arrangements to cover next year’s debt payments, $20bn in foreign currency purchases since November 2025, and currency swap lines worth $20bn each with China and the US. Dollar futures contracts equivalent to $15bn made up the rest of the instruments he listed.

The futures market could be used to absorb liquidity equivalent to half the monetary base, which Milei valued at $30bn. Taken together, he said, the instruments formed a buffer against speculative attacks on the peso.

According to Milei, Argentina faces about $25bn in debt maturities in 2027. He said refinancing for obligations held by domestic investors had been secured, and that external payments had been covered through agreements with international organisations and other countries.

“We have already secured $25bn for next year,” he said, adding that the government had also arranged financing for the coming year.

Energy is central to the government’s argument. Milei said Argentina’s improved energy balance would reduce its need to borrow abroad. He contrasted the country’s former annual energy deficit of $5bn with the $20bn shortfall he said it could have faced at current oil prices had it remained dependent on imports.

“Today, those dollars are coming in in such quantities that they provide a natural hedge, meaning we do not need to borrow abroad,” he said. He argued that commercial inflows could make up for Argentina’s limited access to international financial markets.

The government also had no need to issue new debt to cover a fiscal deficit, the president said, because it was running a balanced budget and paying interest out of the primary surplus.

Milei’s confidence contrasts with a gloomier assessment from the IMF. In its October World Economic Outlook, published on October 13, the fund cut its 2026 growth forecast for Argentina to 2.1%. That is down from the 3.5% it projected in April and maintained in July, and roughly half the 4% it had originally forecast. The fund also lowered its 2027 projection from 4% to 3.5%. Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director of the IMF’s research department, attributed the downgrade to weaker than expected activity, sluggish domestic demand and financial conditions that continue to hold back the recovery. Even the reduced forecast remains above the 1.5% expected by analysts in the central bank’s latest REM survey, but it falls almost a full point short of the 3% growth the government assumes in its draft 2027 budget.

The fund also expects disinflation to be markedly slower than it had previously estimated. It raised its forecast for average annual inflation to 32.5% for 2026, from 30.4%, and to 21.2% for 2027, from 15.7%. It now projects unemployment, which the INDEC statistics bureau measured at 7.9% in the second quarter, at 7.6% in 2026 and 7.1% in 2027. Its earlier estimates were 7.2% and 6.9%.

Milei also brushed aside rumours that Caputo might leave the economy ministry. He described their relationship as ‘symbiotic’ and said the two regularly discussed policy and shared the same outlook.

“Anyone who sees my relationship with Toto, who sees cabinet meetings and the decision-making process, would have to be completely mad to believe that Caputo is going to leave the government,” he said, using the minister’s nickname.

The president criticised reports of Caputo’s possible departure that circulated ahead of a scheduled meeting with IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva at the fund’s meetings in Thailand. He argued that such rumours risked weakening Argentina’s negotiating position with the IMF.