Argentina will pay holders of its restructured sovereign debt, thanks to a bill passed by its Congress last week despite a US court ruling, the country's economy minister told a local radio show on Sunday.
The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday in favor of a legal framework that would help regulate restructuring of foreign sovereign debt, a project that was suggested by the Argentine government and presented before the assembly by the Group of 77 plus China.
Argentine holdout creditor Aurelius Capital Management has said that after talks with many financial institutions, the prospects for finding a private-settlement solution to the Argentine sovereign debt dispute had garnered no realistic proposals.
Economy minister Axel Kicillof is heading the Argentine delegation that on Monday will hold a first formal meeting in New York with Special Master, financial expert Daniel Pollack, appointed as mediator by Judge Thomas Griesa in negotiations between the sovereign country and holdout hedge funds, according to a release late Sunday from Buenos Aires.
The International Monetary Fund is “concerned about wider systemic implications” the ruling by the US Supreme Court could prompt following its decision not to consider Argentina’s appeal aimed at staving off a default.
Holders of Argentine sovereign debt this week asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear that country's appeal of lower court decisions ordering it to pay them 1.33 billion dollars in a case Argentine officials warn could force it to default on its sovereign debt.
US appeals court ruled Argentina discriminated against bondholders who refused to take part in massive debt restructurings in 2005 and 2010 by deciding to pay them later than bondholders who agreed to participate.
While addressing the nation from the Buenos Aires stock exchange floor, Argentine President Cristina Fernández strongly defended the policy of drastically cutting debts, which guarantees “greater independence”, and of stimulating the economy because only with resources can debts be paid, “the dead don’t pay debts”.
A leading German economic research institute has come up with one way to help countries involved in the euro crisis pay down their sovereign debt: get the wealthiest citizens to pay higher taxes, or force them to loan money to their governments.
Greece's sovereign debt restructuring appears to be following the footsteps of Argentina's disorderly debt default of 2002, a creditor that is participating in the negotiations warned this week.