A US appeals court gave holders of defaulted Argentina debt three weeks to respond to the country’s proposed plan to pay them much less than the 1.33 billion dollars they have sued to collect.
President Cristina Fernández defended on Friday her debt reduction policies and blasted the so-called vulture funds and multilateral organizations but also admitted Argentina was willing to pay holdouts on the same conditions that those who accepted the 2005 and 2010 debt restructuring.
Argentina has made its final written arguments ahead of a February 27 US courtroom showdown against holdout bondholders demanding full payment of capital plus interests for sovereign debt from the default of more than a decade ago.
Argentina made payments of over 3.5 billion dollars on Friday in GDP-linked bonds which refer to the 2005 and 2010 rescheduling agreed with creditors who originally held 2001/02 defaulted sovereign bonds. At the same bank the Central bank revealed that international reserves have fallen to its lowest since 2007.
Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino announced on Thursday Argentina will be making payments for more than 3.5 billion dollars in GDP-linked bonds, at the Economy Ministry.
Lorenzino presented the payment as a triumph against the hedge-funds.
A legal clause that is the key to smoothing future debt restructurings could be undermined by a US court ruling that Argentina must pay creditors holding its defaulted debt.
US appeals court refused to order Argentina to post a security deposit of at least 250 million dollars while it seeks to overturn a lower court ruling that orders it to pay holdout investors 1.33 billion.
Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino described the appeal presented on Monday by Argentina against the ruling of New York Judge Thomas Griesa as “very forceful”, and pointed out that if the magistrate had proposed to treat hedge funds demands under the terms of the 2010 debt-swap, the Argentine congress might then address the option.
Investors holding 1 billion dollars worth of restructured Argentine debt said they also appealed to US District Judge Thomas Griesa’s ruling that they fear would trigger another default and prevent them from being paid principal and interest due on their bonds next month.
The Argentine government will appeal on Monday the New York federal court ruling from Thomas Griesa which orders the country to pay 1.3billion dollars to the investment funds which held out from the (2005 and 2010) restructuring of the 2002 defaulted sovereign debt.