US President Donald Trump said on Friday that US aid played a key role in the victory of Argentine President Javier Milley in the latest by-election. According to Reuters, the Trump administration has offered a $40 billion bailout package to support Milley ahead of the vote, BTA reports.
In a statement during his Asian tour, Trump praised Milley's election success, describing it as “a magnificent thing“ and “a great victory“.
“He got a lot of help from us. I expressed my support for him in a very strong way“, Trump said, praising his senior officials, including the Minister Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, who is responsible for financial support for Argentina.
The US president stressed the US's focus on South American countries:
“We are focusing quite heavily on South America.“
The election results give Milley a mandate to continue with his radical economic reforms, despite widespread dissatisfaction with the austerity measures, Reuters notes.
US support before the election included a $20 billion currency swap and a $20 billion debt investment facility proposal.
“We made a lot of money from this election because bonds went up. Their whole credit rating went up“, Trump added, stressing that the US was not acting “for the sake of money“.
Scott Besant defined the aid as “bridge“ to support Milley's economic program:
“He is fighting 100 years of bad policies. He will prevail thanks to US support.“
International ratings agency Fitch Ratings noted last week that US aid had prevented Argentina's credit rating from being downgraded, but added that the country needed a broader plan to rebuild its foreign exchange reserves before the rating could be upgraded.