The US State Department was particularly critical of Argentina in its annual report on the state of human rights in the world in 2020 released Tuesday.
Some of Argentina’s largest creditors presented a new debt proposal to the government over the weekend as the two sides edge closer to a US$ 65 billion restructuring deal, according to people familiar with the matter.
Argentina said it won’t make a local bond payment on time after failing to refinance the debt, declaring it won’t be “held hostage” by foreign investors demanding their money back. The maturity date for the note will be delayed to Sept. 30 from the original Feb. 13, the Economy Ministry said in a statement.
Buenos Aires province bonds added to recent losses on Tuesday after the provincial government asked holders for an extension on a more than US$ 250 million payment due later this month, dragging Argentina’s debt lower as well.
Argentine President Alberto Fernandez on Monday night confirmed that the national government had no plan to bail out Buenos Aires province, which has a payment due later this month on hard-currency provincial debt.
Argentina’s new government is working “nonstop” to resolve its sovereign debt crisis, the country’s Economy Minister Martin Guzman said, a month after center-left Peronist President Alberto Fernandez took office.
Argentina's debt talks will face their first big test this month with a US$ 277-million payment due on a Buenos Aires provincial bond, seen as a gauge of how the indebted nation's new government will handle its creditors.
The Argentine government will continue to honor its debt while it works to reach an agreement with creditors, both the IMF and private bond holders, with the purpose of refinancing commitments and achieve a long term sustainable path for the payments, according to sources from the Economy ministry.
Argentina appointed a government team to kick off talks with creditors to renegotiate about US$100 billion in sovereign debt as the new center-left administration of President Alberto Fernandez postponed payments on some of its short-term debt.
Argentina’s credit rating was downgraded to near-default status by two of the biggest global rating companies, Fitch Ratings, and S&P Global after the government said it would delay payments on its short term dollar-denominated local debt.