Argentina Debt: No Solution With Kirchner

Anti-American politics, not economics, drive opposition against debt solution.

BY JOACHIM BAMRUD

The dispute between Argentina’s government and debt holdouts will not be resolved until President Cristina Kirchner leaves office in December, experts say.

“It seems likely that there will be no real negotiation under President Kirchner’s government and that a solution will only come after the current administration leaves office,” say Pablo Giancaterino and Marta Colomar Garcia. “The presidential candidates and the holdouts expect – if not hope – for a change in December 2015.”

Giancaterino is an Argentina-based attorney with Diaz Reus, which represents hundreds of investors suing the Republic of Argentina for failing to make millions of dollars in payments owed under its sovereign debt issuings. Colomar is a Miami-based partner at Diaz Reus.

“They’ve refused to negotiate [even though] all of their excuses have run out,” says Robert Shapiro, co-chair of the American Task Force on Argentina (ATFA), an alliance of both bondholders and other organizations that promote a negotiated settlement with the Argentine government in the interests of American stakeholders. Members include Elliott Associates, Bracebridge Capital and FH International Asset Management, which are among the leading holdout creditors, as well as such groups as the National Taxpayers Union and the US Cattlemen's Association.

Shapiro believes...

Full story

Keywords:  Argentina, ATFA, Diaz Reus, Elliott Associates, G-20, IMF, inflation, Cristina Kirchner, RUFO