Argentina's bankruptcy—still proceeding

THE AMERICAS: "Argentina: Better late than never; Ms Fernandez tries to charm the markets by revisiting the 2005 debt swap," The Economist, 27 September 2008.

When Argentina went through its IMF-sort-of-approved sovereign bankruptcy a few years back, it basically told it's creditors it would pay 35 cents on the dollar—take it or leave it. Those who left it saw no repayment whatsoever.

Now, years later, Argentina under Ms. Fernandez (that's what the mag calls Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner) seeks to make some amends with the 24% of creditors who said no to that deal by offering a new bond series that is expected to bring them in from the cold.

Fernandez does this to repair the country's credit perception as she seeks to float new debt, the assumption being that the savings in interest rates makes up for the back payments.

So even now, years later, Argentina's bankruptcy still stings, creating a "credibility gap with investors."

Not exactly the triumph of the Washington Consensus, but hardly its total repudiation, either.

Comments

[anand]

Argentina still hasn't paid a large price for defaulting on its national debt. Iraq decided to follow Argentina in 2003 and 2004. Iraq also hasn't paid a large price for defaulting on its national debt.

This is a quandary for sovereign debt economic research. Why should countries repay their national debt?