Argentina remains firm in its debt offer and expects the ?process? of the restructuring to be concluded by the end of the year, Finance Minister Roberto Lavagna said Sunday. ?Very few details? remain to complete the prospectus that would go to investors, and the offer will not be changed from terms set by the Argentine officials in June, he said.
The minister pointed to positive results for Argentina at the Annual Meetings in an informal, small press briefing aimed at the local media yesterday afternoon. The communique of the IMFC was ?hyper-favourable,? said Lavagna, who spoke in a relaxed, cordial mode with reporters. That statement said, ?We welcome the efforts by Argentina toward completing a comprehensive and sustainable debt restructuring and hope for an expeditious conclusion to the process.?
That language was toned down from an initial draft that was more critical, sources say. ?Now it is necessary to let the markets speak,? said the finance minister who has angered bondholders with a final offer that would pay, nominally, 25 cents on the dollar. He noted that Argentine bonds are appreciating in value and the country is ?less exposed? than a year ago at the IMF meeting in Dubai.
The ?very brief? speech of US Treasury Secretary John Snow Sunday, which stressed the importance of economic growth, was ?stupendous,? said Lavagna. The Argentine debt offer has some built-in flexibility that would improve payment to bondholders with greater increments of growth in the Argentine economy. ?Argentina has managed [to make analysts] understand that the ability to pay is absolutely linked to growth,? Lavagna said.
Asked about his expectations of how many bondholders would accept the Argentina offer with its 75% haircut, Lavagna was sanguine. ?We didn't get flustered in the face of hundreds of articles and [now] we will not lapse into any excited state,? he said. During the Washington meetings, Lavagna has met with Snow, Italian and German ministers and US Treasury chief for international affairs John Taylor.
Argentina closes in on deal