Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced a AR$2 trillion (US$1.3 billion at the official rate) plan on Wednesday to revive mortgage lending in Argentina.

“The 2 trillion pesos we would be auctioning would provide housing solutions for 17,000 to 18,000 families,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday morning

The money will come from the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (in Spanish, FGS), which will guarantee long-term deposits at banks so those banks can, in turn, write more home loans.

The FGS is a sovereign wealth fund managed by state pension agency ANSES. It acts as a reserve to guarantee pension payments in the event of an economic crisis or a drop in tax revenue.

Commenting on the announcement, Brokerage Puente noted that the scheme is not new, as a similar initiative ran during former President Cristina Kirchner’s first term (2007-2011).

“It was done back in 2009, after the international financial crisis, when the FGS auctioned fixed-term deposits so that banks could then finance purchases of........

© Buenos Aires Herald