Mercado Libre founder defends company's loan defaults, contrasts with banks, and backs Milei's economy

Marcos Galperin, the founder of Mercado Libre, has publicly defended his company's lending practices amidst rising criticism over loan default rates. Galperin asserted that the defaults within Mercado Libre's financial services arm, Mercado Pago, constitute a minimal fraction of the overall financial system's non-performing loans.

In a series of social media posts, Galperin stated that Mercado Libre accounts for "less than 3%" of the total defaults in the financial system. He directly challenged critics, particularly those he labeled "Peronistas," by comparing the median default amount for public banks, which he placed at $1.4 million Argentine pesos, to Mercado Libre's median of $0.1 million pesos. This comparison aimed to contextualize the company's default figures within the broader financial landscape.

Galperin's defense is supported by an analysis from Matías Fernández, founder of the consultancy Pública. The report, which integrates official data from the Central Bank's Debtor Registry and the Tax and Customs Control Agency (ARCA), indicates that traditional banks, both public and private, hold approximately 65% of the total unpaid debt. Specifically, private entities account for 45% of the owed money from 1.59 million individuals in default, while Banco Nación and Banco Provincia together represent 15% of the non-recovered amounts.

Furthermore, Galperin used the opportunity to express his support for President Javier Milei's economic policies. His defense of Mercado Libre's financial operations and his critique of media reporting on the issue align with Milei's own recent statements against the press, which the president characterized as "imbeciles with an IQ deficit and/or lying human pieces of shit."

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The post reveals the smear campaign. This shows that the journalists who have dedicated themselves to agitating the issue are imbeciles with an IQ deficit and/or are lying human pieces of shit.