Argentina

The IMF has called for a major debt restructuring in Argentina in which private creditors would take a significant hit, after deeming the country’s debt to be unsustainable. In a statement issued on Wednesday following a week of “very productive” talks with government officials in Buenos Aires, the fund said Argentina’s debt had “deteriorated decidedly” since its last assessment in July, the Financial Times reported.

Argentina may be in deep financial trouble but its central bank is comfortably back in the black -- thanks to a small accounting maneuver, Bloomberg News reported. A little-noticed decision by policy makers late last year to change the way they value government bond holdings transformed the central bank’s balance sheet overnight, turning what had been a net worth of negative $2 billion into positive $33 billion.

The International Monetary Fund, as the lender of last resort, won’t offer a haircut on its Argentina loan after Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called on the institution to take a loss, Bloomberg News reported. “Our legal construct is such that we cannot do measures that may be possible for others without this big global responsibility,” Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said Sunday in a Bloomberg Television interview in Dubai. An IMF technical mission is in Buenos Aires through Feb. 19 to meet with Argentina officials and assess the country’s debt sustainability.

Argentine bonds took a beating on Thursday after the economy minister warned that a “deep debt restructuring” was on the way, and promised to take a tough stance with creditors while refusing to impose fiscal austerity on the shrinking economy, Reuters reported. Over the counter bond prices RPLATC fell an average 2% while Argentina’s risk spread 11EMJ shot out 118 basis points to 2,068 over safe-haven U.S. Treasury paper.

Argentina’s economy minister confirmed bondholders’ worst fears, telling them to brace for significant losses as the country restructures its debt amid an economic crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Martin Guzman warned Wednesday that holders of Argentine debt will probably be disappointed by the restructuring, without providing specifics on how steep losses could be. “It’s necessary to have a deep debt restructuring,” he said at a congressional hearing where he provided his most detailed comments about debt strategy since taking office in December.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez has likened negotiating the nation’s debt to playing poker. This week he’ll have to show some of his cards to the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. IMF negotiators land in Buenos Aires on Wednesday for their first mission since the leftist president took office in December. Before agreeing to any changes in the terms of their current deal, they will want to see Fernandez’s blueprint for tackling more than $320 billion in total debt and for rescuing an economy that’s forecast to shrink for a third straight year.

Argentina said it won’t make a local bond payment on time after failing to refinance the debt, declaring it won’t be “held hostage” by foreign investors demanding their money back, Bloomberg News reported. The maturity date for the note will be delayed to Sept. 30 from the original Feb. 13, the Economy Ministry said in a statement. The move comes after a local debt sale flopped and only a few investors agreed to participate in a debt swap that would have bought the country extra time to come up with the cash.

Argentina’s top exporter of processed soy, Vicentin, has asked a judge to begin negotiations for debt restructuring, the company said on Monday, as the firm struggles to cope with a widening economic crisis in the South American nation, Reuters reported. The near 90-year-old firm, which defaulted on payments to suppliers late last year, was forced to sell part of its stake in a joint venture with Glencore in December, as its plans for expansion collided with Argentine financial woes.

The IMF is like a hospital emergency room. Countries abhor the fund’s demands to adjust their economic policies in return for loans, so they only walk in when an accident makes them lose access to private capital, the Financial Times reported. The IMF imposes conditionality because its interest rates are fixed and cannot reflect the borrower’s risk — it is lending the taxpayers’ money of member countries. The “injured” country is requested to reduce spending and raise taxes. When fiscal changes cannot re-establish debt sustainability, it is also asked to restructure its debt.

Fidelity Investments scored a victory over the province of Buenos Aires by compelling officials there to make good on a $250 million payment they had threatened to withhold, Bloomberg News reported. The Boston-based fund manager rejected the province’s demands for a three-month delay for the payment originally due in January, even as officials said there was no way the cash-strapped province could make good on its obligations. Fidelity’s outsize stake means it was effectively able to block the proposal, and in the end the province agreed to pay.