Posted inDaily Brief

Strike at Aerolineas Argentinas

Pilots and technicians at Aerolineas Argentinas went on strike Tuesday, paralyzing flights at Ezeiza international airport in Buenos Aires. Union leaders, which said the strike would last 12 hours, are demanding a salary increase of 40 percent. Aerolineas Argentinas, Argentina´s largest airline, is owed by Spanish travel group Marsans.

Posted inDaily Brief

Argentina moves to dollar denominated bonds.

Argentina has said it will halt sales of index–linked government bonds on local markets as inflation picks up. Annual inflation doubled to 9% in June. Officials say they are worried the bonds could fuel inflation expectations. In future, the government will issue fixed-rate dollar-denominated bonds. Last week, the government sold $442 million in bonds in the local capital markets in its first sale of dollar bonds since its 2001 default.

Posted inDaily Brief

Rato Defends Holdouts

As Argentine and IMF officials met in Washington to discuss a possible refinancing of Argentina´s $12 billion debt to the Fund, IMF director Rodrigo Rato said Argentina must find a solution for bondholders that did not participate in the county´s debt swap. In February 76 percent of investors holding defaulted Argentine debt agreed to a swap for new bonds. A defiant President Nestor Kirchner said Argentina “won’t cede anything.”

Posted inDaily Brief

Argentina – IMF Talks Begin

Argentina´s Finance Secretary Guillermo Nielsen began negotiations with the IMF Wednesday with the hope of reaching a new loan accord. The country currently owes the Fund about $10 billion. The IMF, to the chagrin of President Kirchner, has demanded Argentina´s primary fiscal surplus stand at 4.5 percent of GDP, above its current rate of about 3.2 percent. Argentina recently completed a swap with investors in which it exchanged about $100 billion in defaulted debt for new bonds.

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