The committee considered that the Buenos Aires offer “puts a disproportionate part of the effort on the shoulders of international bonds.”
On Friday, the government of Alberto Fernandez (center left) presented a proposal to its private creditors to restructure public debt, stipulating writing off 62 percent of the interest, equivalent to $ 37.9 billion, and 5.4 percent of the principal, equivalent to 3.6 billion. Dollars.
Argentina also requested a three-year moratorium on debt, that is, no payment was made before 2023.
Through this step, the government aims to renegotiate approximately $ 70 billion of foreign currency bonds that fall within international jurisdiction, meaning that they may be the subject of international arbitration.
A second group of bondholders, which owns 16 percent of bonds issued between 2005 and 2010, rejected the Buenos Aires proposal.
In a statement, these creditors said: “Unfortunately, the bondholders’ viewpoint was not taken into account” in the government proposal, which is therefore “unacceptable.”
For its part, the Argentine Ministry of Economy was not surprised by the reaction. A source from the ministry told AFP, asking not to be named, that “this was expected.”
In turn, the economist at the Ecoltena Office of Studies Matthias Rakhnerman considered that “the refusal of creditors is not always a good thing, but that is reasonable because the offer is subject to improvement and this is a negotiating path.” Buenos Aires has given its creditors 20 days to submit their response, that is, until 7 May.
The next payment that Argentina has to make is $ 500 million, due on April 22, but it can be extended for another month before Buenos Aires is deemed to be defaulted. The total Argentine debt is $ 311 billion, which represents more than 90 percent of GDP.
(AFP)
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