Argentina

Argentine officials met last week with representatives from the International Monetary Fund in Washington as the government of South America’s second-largest economy seeks to rework its troubled loan program, Bloomberg News reported. Economic Policy Secretary Fernando Morra and Central Bank Economic Research Deputy General Manager German Feldman traveled to the U.S. to hold the in-person meetings with IMF staffers including Argentina mission chief Luis Cubeddu.

This month, Argentina's central bank is issuing money to the General Treasury at the fastest rate so far this year, which could fuel even faster inflation, while helping finance public spending ahead of the legislative elections of November, Bloomberg News reported. The monetary authority led by Miguel Pesce sent between July 1 and 22, 180,000 million pesos (US $ 1,860 million) to the Government, double the amount for the entire month of June and the highest figure since last December.

The court that had declared the bankruptcy of Correo Argentino SA, belonging to the family of ex-Argentine president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), decided to provisionally suspend proceedings on Wednesday, after the company appealed the measure, the Rio Times reported. The ruling was issued by Commercial Court 6, headed by Judge Marta Cirulli who granted the appeal filed by Correo Argentino SA and and granted "suspensive force" of all proceedings arising from the bankruptcy.

Argentina will make a partial payment to the group of wealthy government creditors known as the Paris Club of an outstanding debt of $2.4 billion, Bloomberg News reported. The club will spare Argentina from default in the understanding that the country can rework a $45 billion credit with the International Monetary Fund. The South American nation has used a 60-day grace period to try to reach an agreement with the group after failing to make the payment by May 31. Argentina’s global bonds due in 2030 pared an intra-day decline to trade at 37.23 cents on the dollar on the news.

The International Monetary Fund privately estimates that a deal allowing Argentina to reschedule payments on $45 billion owed to the lender will be pushed into 2022 as President Alberto Fernandez has little incentive to quickly agree on the basis of a new program, Bloomberg News reported.

Argentine power-plant owner Stoneway Capital Ltd. is discussing borrowing money from the senior bondholders challenging the company’s U.S. bankruptcy filing and pushing to relocate the restructuring to Canada, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Stoneway, seeking to finance its stay in bankruptcy, is discussing potential loan terms with senior bondholders and junior creditors, as well as potential outside lenders, the company’s lead lawyer, Fred Sosnick, said at a virtual hearing on Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The bondholders, including BlackRock Inc.

The group of rich government creditors known as the Paris Club is willing to delay a $2.4 billion debt payment from Argentina due this month if the nation meets certain conditions, potentially averting a damaging default, Bloomberg News reported. The club will spare Argentina from default if it misses the May 31 payment in the hope that the country can rework a $45 billion credit with the International Monetary Fund, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private.

The once-mighty but now cash-strapped Argentine soy crusher Vicentin said on Thursday that it is starting talks to sell a majority stake to export firms Viterra, Molinos Agro and Argentine cooperative ACA, Reuters reported. Argentina is the world’s No. 1 supplier of soymeal feed, used to fatten hogs and poultry from Europe to Southeast Asia. And family-owned Vicentin was the country’s top exporter of soy byproducts before falling into bankruptcy in 2019.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez in late March sent Economy Minister Martin Guzman to hold meetings with U.S. officials and the International Monetary Fund over its $45 billion loan, Bloomberg News reported. Back home, Fernandez’s populist vice president took to the microphone to make one thing clear. “We can’t pay because we don’t have the money,” said Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who held the nation’s top job from 2007 to 2015. The IMF’s terms are “unacceptable.” It was a telling moment. When Fernandez, 62, took office in the final days of 2019, he presented himself as pragmatic.

Stoneway Capital Ltd., the owner of four power plants in Argentina, filed for bankruptcy in New York on Wednesday after an Argentine Supreme Court ruling against the company prolonged the closure of one of its generation facilities, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Stoneway missed an interest payment on March 1, 2020, and soon after entered forbearance agreements with its creditors, according to a declaration filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York by David Mack, Stoneway’s sole director.