Buenos Aires Herald 
A video of streamer and TV host Alejandro Fantino saying he had spoken with Economy Minister Luis Caputo and that Argentina was in for three “very rough” months went viral on Wednesday, prompting an official rebuttal from Caputo.
The dollar exchange rate and dollar futures contracts ticked up on Thursday.
Caputo initially suggested the viral footage, which had been slightly edited and published by an unknown account on social media platform X, had been created with AI. He acknowledged that he had spoken with Fantino, but said he had told him “the opposite” of what the clip said.
He then gave an interview with TV channel LN+, saying that the economy was “in order” and attributing the clip to a political operation. He accused the opposition of distorting the truth and attempting to create “instability” ahead of the midterm elections.
“We’ve pulled 11 million people out of poverty,” he told LN+ on Wednesday night, citing the drop in inflation, economic growth, and the deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as evidence of the country’s financial health.
Fantino said that an “edited version” of his editorial had been used for a “poor-quality operation.” The streamer, who is very close to President Javier Milei and has interviewed him several times, took up Caputo’s line of defense, claiming that what he had said was “the opposite” of what the viral video showed.
The footage that went viral was a condensed version of the editorial, running to just over two minutes. The key difference is that the edited footage did not contain references to the opposition. Thus, while Fantino was discussing a hypothetical scenario in which the opposition managed to “torpedo” the government’s plans and gain ground in the mid-term elections, the short version was edited to suggest he was saying this scenario would happen regardless.
On Thursday, the day after the scandal, the official dollar exchange rate had risen from AR$1,276 to AR$1,280 at the time of writing. Dollar futures had rebounded by up to 0.9%, with the market pricing an exchange rate of AR$1,447 for December. Over the previous fortnight, the exchange rate had been rising amid doubts over the economic program. Last week, Caputo even urged critics of the economic program, who claim the peso is artificially inflated, to buy the greenback.
Fantino’s viral editorial
Streamer, sports journalist, and TV host Alejandro Fantino opened his eight-minute editorial on streaming platform Neura on Wednesday saying that he had discussed Argentina’s economy with Caputo for an hour. While the conversation was supposed to be off the record, he told his audience that he would nonetheless reveal what Caputo had said.
Fantino described the government’s economic structure as a “spaceship” with three reactors: the current account, the exchange rate, and fiscal health. He then claimed that Caputo had told him the current account deficit and the exchange rate are under control, so the opposition would seek to “torpedo” the country’s fiscal health. The government currently maintains a surplus and has signaled that a 2.5% deficit is the red line it will not cross, he added.
“That’s why the opposition, or the governors who are angry, will begin firing their first missiles at the fiscal surplus,” Fantino said.
Some Argentine governors are pushing for a Senate session on Thursday. If the opposition achieves quorum, the goal is to debate bills including a hike to pension payments and a fresh moratorium for older adults who want to retire but lack the necessary contributions.
The government opposes these initiatives on the grounds of fiscal balance. The president has said he would veto these resolutions, but Congress could overturn his decisions with a two-thirds majority in both houses.
“If that first missile hits the fiscal health reactor […] and we head to the elections with a fiscal deficit of 3 or 4%, [Milei] says, ‘Don’t worry, it’s going to be rough, but after I categorically win in October and my guys are sworn in in December, some governors will help and we can right the ship,’” Fantino explained.
However, he told his listeners that, despite the encouraging end-of-year prognosis, the “ship is going to rock” and turbulence is “going to be felt.”
That meant, he said, that Argentines planning to holiday in Brazil might not be able to afford it. “The exchange rate will surpass the upper limit of the band, country risk will rise, media outlets will run catastrophic headlines, which is what [the opposition] wants…To create turbulence and unrest,” he said.
He then added that if this persuaded voters to cast a ballot for the opposition, it would “bring the ship down.”
“Things will get really bad and we will go through a very rough time,” he concluded.
