Argentine gross public debt climbed 3% at the end of the second quarter of the year and has reached US$ 337.367 million compared to US$ 327.166 million in the same period last year, according to the Financial Secretariat.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sought on Friday to ease growing concerns about his ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, vowing to prevent debt risks and saying his global infrastructure project “is not an exclusive club”.
Terra Forte, one of the largest Brazilian coffee exporters, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a Sao Paulo state court, lawyers for the company said. Law firm Freire, Assis, Sakamoto e Violante said Terra Forte was looking to restructure 1.1 billion reais (US$ 288.2 million) in debt.
The Brazilian government posted a fiscal deficit of 41.13 billion reais (US$ 11.27 billion) in December, the third widest monthly deficit on record, the central bank said on Thursday. While it was in line with forecasts and amplified by seasonal factors, the shortfall highlights the challenge of exerting tighter control over the country's finances which new President Jair Bolsonaro has said is one of his top priorities.
Argentina’s peso rallied for a third straight day on Wednesday, after high-interest short-term debt issued by the central bank soaked up liquidity, a strategy that has raised concern about the sustainability of the country’s program.
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said that the restructuring of Argentina’s debt allowed the resumption of relations with Italy, and in human rights, art and culture Argentina was back in the world map with ‘a bang’.
The IMF warned Greece it must redouble reform efforts to avoid derailing its fiscal program, key to dealing with a huge debt mountain.The sternest IMF warning since a 110 billion Euro EU/IMF bailout a year ago pulled the troubled Euro zone member back from the brink of bankruptcy was delivered as European officials raised the possibility of a Greek debt restructuring.
“There is no evidence that Argentina has learnt the lesson from the 2001 crisis”, said Carmen Reinhart one of the most influential US economists and an expert in Latin America, who has worked for the IMF, in Wall Street and teaches at the University of Maryland.
Argentina's Treasury will borrow 8.40 billion pesos (2.02 billion US dollars) from state-run Banco Nacion this year to refinance some of its debt with the bank, a top official told state news agency Telam on Wednesday.
European Central Bank policymaker Axel Weber said that debt-strained Euro zone countries must make the most of the breathing space bought by aid measures and warned them the hardest part of the reform process was still ahead.