It looks like Argentina is going to re-pay its Paris Club debt, finally closing the door on 2001

i've posted extensively (see here) on the gripping telenovela that world observers were treated to as argentina struggled to deal with the imf and argentine bond-holders following argentina's 2001 economic collapse, where argentina basically told the world financial community to take their loan conditions and stick 'em where the sun don't shine, that argentina's first obligation was to the welfare of its citizens... needless to say, that didn't play well among the super-rich elites who consider their debtors' promises to repay as a sacred obligation... and, sadly, it didn't play well either with elderly pensioners in places like italy and japan who were forced to accept a 75% haircut on their investments...

there's a $6+ billion debt still to be re-paid to the paris club of nations and the imf has been pressuring argentina to cough up for some time... it looks like argentina, with $50B in reserves, is ready to do that but only if the imf keeps their collective noses out of it... believe me, no love is lost between argentina and the imf...

A meeting of Argentina's president with her French counterpart may provide new stimulus to talks with the Paris Club over Argentina's $6.3 billion debt, Argentina's finance minister said on Sunday.

Argentina defaulted in late 2001 and made an early repayment of about $10 billion owed to the International Monetary Fund in 2005. It is still in talks over the remaining debt with the Paris Club of 19 creditor countries, including France, Germany and the United States.

[...]

Since the default, Argentina's economy has boomed and the country has been facing increasing pressures to pay its debt as it has accumulated more than $50 billion in reserves.

The [Argentina's finance minister, Martin Lousteau] said that any deal with the Paris Club would have to respect Argentina's sovereignty and give the country time to pay the debt.

Lousteau ruled out any involvement of the IMF as part the negotiations. "That's non-negotiable", he said.

you tell 'em, martin...

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