The head of the United States Treasury, Scott Bessent, has announced he is working to corral the private sector around a new $20bn “facility” to support Argentina’s embattled economy.

“We are working on a $20bn facility that would be adjacent to our swap line, of private banks and sovereign wealth funds that I think would be more aimed at the debt market,” he told reporters on Wednesday in Washington, DC.

Bessent added that he had spent “weeks” working on the private-sector solution to Argentina’s upcoming debt payments, which would come on top of the $20bn currency swap the US Treasury recently set up to prop up the country’s peso.

“So that would be a total of 40 billion for Argentina,” he said, in remarks that triggered a rebound on Argentinian stocks.

Bessent’s comments mark the

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