Paula Lugones
05/22/2020 - 14:43
- Clarín.com
- Economy
- Economy
The Argentine ambassador to the United States, Jorge Argüello, sent an email in Washington confirming that Argentina will fall into default this Friday because the country will not comply with the payment of 503 million dollars that is due today, but he also points out that the Negotiations with creditors continue to achieve debt restructuring.
In the email, written in English and addressed to the Argentine community in the United States, American academics and personalities who are closely following the news in our country, Argüello joins the official communication from the Ministry of Economy that the exchange period is extended until June 2, but it is the first official recognition that this Friday will not be paid, something that the ministry had not formally expressed but was already taken for granted in Buenos Aires and Wall Street.
In this way, it would fall into a "soft default", because the bondholders continue to negotiate and will not go to the New York courts for non-payment, at least for now, according to themselves.
“Today is the end of the grace period to pay the interest on some of the eligible bonds subject to negotiations. Given the prospect of reaching an agreement with its creditors on the new terms of its bonds, Argentina will defer this payment until an agreement is reached with the creditors and new terms are agreed on the interest to be paid on said bonds, "he wrote. Argüello.
The extension of the negotiation period to June 2 is "in itself a formality, but it means recognition of and the ongoing talks between the Argentine government and its creditors, which require a little more time to bear fruit and achieve a orderly debt restructuring ”.
“Argentina and its advisers intend to take advantage of this extension to continue the talks and allow investors to continue contributing to a satisfactory debt restructuring . In this sense, the Government continues to receive the opinions and suggestions of investors. ”
The Minister Martín Guzmán himself had recognized on Monday that the date of this Friday was “anecdotal”. It was precisely in a talk organized by the American-Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Amcham Argentina, and presented by Ambassador Argüello.
Washington. Correspondent