Caputo confronted Gustavo Petro on X and gave him a basic economics lesson

The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, responded to Colombian President Gustavo Petro after the leader spread a false accusation against Argentina on social media regarding the supposed record increase in its external debt during the government of Javier Milei.

Petro had shared a post from RTVC Noticias claiming that Argentina had reached a historic record of external debt of over 320 billion dollars, while Colombia was supposedly making progress in paying its commitments to the International Monetary Fund. Following that post, the Colombian president wrote: “While Argentina shoots up its external debt, Colombia not only fully pays its debt to the IMF but also reduces the total of its external debt.”

The Argentine economy minister replied to the Colombian leader that “the correct thing is to look at the total debt” and argued that Petro avoids that data to conceal the significant increase in internal debt in TES, that is, Treasury bills, during his own administration.

“Dear President @petrogustavo, the correct thing is to look at the total debt, which I suspect you avoid to hide that internal debt in TES has risen exorbitantly during your term,” Caputo wrote on X.

He accompanied his response with graphs prepared by the Ministry of Economy, showing the evolution of total public debt and foreign currency debt with international organizations and BILA as a percentage of GDP. According to that data, total public debt rose from 88.42% of GDP in November 2023, with a jump to 156.56% in December of that year due to the adjustment of inherited variables, to an estimate of 69.98% in April 2026.

The second graph shared by Caputo also shows a reduction in foreign currency debt with international organizations and BILA: from 16.3% of GDP in November 2023 to 14.6% in April 2026. That is, exactly the opposite of the narrative Petro tried to establish.

“I leave you the graphs where anyone can understand how President Milei has reduced total debt and foreign currency debt. Regards,” Caputo concluded.