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News > Argentina

Argentina: Buenos Aires Province Fights for Debt Restructuring

  • Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof (R) and his Finance Minister Pablo Lopez (L), Argentina, 2020.

    Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof (R) and his Finance Minister Pablo Lopez (L), Argentina, 2020. | Photo: Twitter/ @RevistaPLUSPY

Published 29 March 2021
Opinion

This subnational government cannot commit to making high payments of external debt without harming the population in a situation of poverty.

Buenos Aires' Governor Axel Kicillof extended the deadline to negotiate a US$7 billion debt with private creditors who sued his government for late payment. 

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On March 23, an Ad Hoc committee of creditors represented by White & Case LLP filed two lawsuits in New York against Buenos Aires province for the non-payment of debt interest bonuses. 

The subnational government's Finance Minister Pablo Lopez described as "intransigent" the creditors' posture, which also requested payment of US$2 billion over the next four years. He claimed that his province experiences a "fragile situation" due to the increase of foreign currency indebtedness committed by ex-governor Maria Vidal.

"Litigation is not the way to address the issue because it does not solve the problem of debt's sustainability nor does it increase the existing payment capacity," Lopez said. 

On April 23, 2020, Kicillof announced the first public debt restructuring proposal offering new bonds with a three-year grace period and a 55 percent of interest reduction.

After this and other proposals were rejected by creditors, Buenos Aires province agreed to avoid interest cuts last week. Its debt includes eleven different bonds, almost half of which belong to titleholders who filed the claim.

"Buenos Aires has poverty levels of almost 50 percent... Committing ourselves to unsustainable payments has a real impact and would lead us to worsen a situation," local authorities said. 

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