Argentina received a debt restructuring proposal from two creditor groups a step in the right direction, Economy Minister said on Friday. Nevertheless, it still fell short of what the country needed to strike a deal.
The Argentine Ministry of Economy extended until June 2 the term to renegotiate the US$ 67 billion of debt securities issued under foreign law, with the aim of continuing negotiations with creditors.
Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzman has hinted that make-or-break talks with international creditors are likely to continue beyond the looming May 22 deadline. It has tentatively elevated hopes that the crisis-prone country will be able to avoid its ninth sovereign debt default.
Argentina will extend negotiations over a US$ 65bn debt restructuring proposal until May 22, the government said in the official gazette on Monday. The extension sets the stage for tense last-ditch talks as Argentina races to avoid default.
Argentina is preparing to extend the deadline to its debt offer to May 22. The government will publish an extension to its debt offer in the official Gazette this Monday, part of President Alberto Fernandez’s next steps in its debt restructuring after extending a deadline over the weekend for creditors to accept an initial offer to exchange $65 billion in overseas bonds.
Argentina will keep pushing for talks with creditors even as a deadline for its US$ 65 billion debt restructuring proposal passed on Friday with little sign it had the support needed from international bondholders to unlock a comprehensive deal. Apparently on averaged less than 20% of bondholders accepted Argentina's conditions
Argentina's Economy Minister Martin Guzman has given the country's biggest bondholders until this Friday to accept the offer he has put on the table to suspend payments until 2023 and reduce interest rates thereafter. One of the largest of those creditors, the investment management firm BlackRock, rejected Guzman's proposal and immediately presented a counteroffer.
The government of Argentina and its biggest bondholders are clashing over plans to restructure US$ 65 billion in foreign debt, with little sign of either side budging in last-ditch talks to strike a deal.
By Martin Guzman (*) – The following piece was published in the Sunday editions of the Financial Times, ahead of a critical countdown in May for Argentina's debts and its creditors:
Argentina is willing to keep working toward a deal to restructure its debt if an offer that expires on Friday is rejected, the economy minister said. Economy Minister Martin Guzman told Argentine daily Clarin in an interview published on Sunday that he is seeing a “growing understanding” with bondholders ahead of a May 8 deadline for the offer that creditor groups already criticized.