Santiago Bausili, president of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic, met his Chinese counterpart Pan Gongsheng on the sidelines of a symposium hosted by the Bank for International Settlements and the People's Bank of China in Shanghai on 10 June, a restrained overture toward resuming discussions on a bilateral currency swap months after Buenos Aires cut back the activated portion of the facility under pressure from Washington.
MEETING DETAILS AND CONTEXT
According to the BCRA, the two governors exchanged views on the international economic and financial situation, the operation of the global monetary system and topics of mutual interest regarding cooperation between central banks.
The swap line, worth 130 billion yuan (about $19 billion), has been in place since 2009 and is renewed periodically. Argentina had reduced the outstanding balance of the swap's activated tranche from nearly $5 billion to about $679 million by mid-January 2026, after the US Treasury agreed its own $20 billion swap line with Argentina in October 2025.
The quiet bilateral engagement in Shanghai did not include a disclosed timetable or a new formal agreement, and there was no public signing at the event. Argentine media reported that talks on renewing the roughly $19 billion swap, which was due to expire in August, were already advancing despite official denials from Buenos Aires.
Officials did not announce any commitments or a schedule for future talks. It nevertheless indicated that Argentina and China had not closed the door on currency-swap cooperation despite the earlier reduction of the activated tranche under US pressure.
Sources: SCMP Finance
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