A top official in Argentine President Javier Milei’s government said a Chinese bank deliberately pushed down the peso’s value on Monday, taking advantage of thin liquidity in the foreign-exchange market that day.
“On Monday, during two hours with just US$30 million, a Chinese bank tried to move up the dollar’s price and made the peso go up by 40 against the dollar on a very small volume,” Finance Secretary Pablo Quirno said in an interview with local TV channel A24. “That happens because of illiquidity in the market,” he added.
On Monday, Argentina’s FX market traded with reduced volume, as is usual when there is a US holiday, and the peso slid 2.7 percent.
The government announced Tuesday morning that the Treasury would begin intervening in the currency market to support its “liquidity and normal functioning,” after the country’s assets slumped amid a series of political and economic setbacks for President Milei ahead of a key vote on Sunday.
In Argentina, two Chinese banks currently operate: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which ranks eighth in the system with US$5.9 billion in assets, and Bank of China, which is in 65th place with US$50.8 million in assets, according to Central Bank data published in May 2025.
A spokeswoman for ICBC’s press office in Buenos Aires said in a WhatsApp message that the company has operated in Argentina for many years in compliance with regulations and will continue to support the country’s growth.
Bank of China didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Quirno said this wasn’t the first time a bank acted intentionally against the peso. “We’ve faced these operations since the beginning of this government. Last year, one of the banks exercised its puts with the intention of hurting us,” he said.
by Ignacio Olivera Doll, Bloomberg
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