Exchange rate tensions: Luis Caputo's team launches emergency tender to curb exchange rate pressure and absorb $5 billion.

Amid renewed currency tensions , with the blue dollar climbing to $1,340 and financial rates also on the rise, the Ministry of Finance announced this Monday an extraordinary tender outside the official schedule , which will take place this Wednesday, July 16 , with the aim of absorbing excess pesos and "putting a floor on rates" in the short end of the curve.

The move, NA reported, comes just hours after the technical extinction of the Liquidity Fiscal Letters (LEFIs) , a tool that had been created by Javier Milei 's government to absorb monetary surpluses in the post-Leliqs transition.

Now, with more than $5 trillion released into the financial system by the disappearance of these instruments, the Ministry of Economy is seeking to channel that liquidity into Treasury instruments and prevent it from putting further pressure on the parallel foreign exchange market.

Wednesday's offering includes a wide range of Capitalizable Treasury Bills (LECAP) with very short-term maturities:

• 31/07 (S31L5)
• 15/08 (S15G5)
• 08/29 (S29G5)
• 12/09 (S12S5)
• 30/09 (S30S5)

In addition, a BONCAP bond maturing on 10/17/25 (T17O5) will be tendered, a bond that seeks to attract more conservative investors with a longer horizon.

The Treasury Department explained that the goal is to absorb at least $5 trillion to contain the monetary expansion resulting from the LEFI exchange, while also preventing that mass of money from flowing into the financial dollar.

The announcement of the tender did not prevent the foreign exchange market from continuing to show signs of nervousness on Monday:

• The blue dollar jumped 3.1% and closed at $1,340 , although during the day it reached peaks of $1,350 .
• The MEP rose to $1,285.79 and the CCL to $1,292.86 , while the wholesaler closed at $1,279.50 , accumulating a 6.4% increase in July.
• At Banco Nación, the official rate climbed to $1,295 , with an increasingly marked gap with respect to the parallel rate.

Consulting firms such as Quantum estimated that the disappearance of the LEFIs mobilized $15.5 trillion , of which $5.5 trillion had already been recycled into Lecaps following the last auction. However, the high volumes traded in securities such as the S15G5—which exceeded $425 billion—reveal clear official intervention to support rates and prevent a flight to the dollar.

The Treasury faces an immediate challenge: nearly $38 trillion in pesos will mature between July and August , and any loss of confidence could trigger a search for hard currency coverage.

This flash placement seeks to anchor expectations , capture surplus pesos, and reinforce the government's commitment to fiscal stability , all without resorting to longer-term issues that would strain the yield curve.