Argentina's Guzmán heads to U.S. for crunch IMF debt talks

Reuters · 03/17/2021 21:41
Argentina's Guzmán heads to U.S. for crunch IMF debt talks

By Eliana Raszewski and Jorge Iorio

- Argentina's Economy Minister Martin Guzmán will travel to New York on Wednesday night to meet investors before heading to Washington for talks with the International Monetary Fund, a government source said.

Argentina is looking to replace a lending program signed by the previous government in 2018 and for which it currently owes the IMF about $45 billion.

Guzmán told local media on Monday that while he hoped to sign a fresh agreement with the IMF in May as originally planned, that date was flexible.

Delays to a deal being signed have generated frustration among bondholders who see a new agreement as key for giving more stability to the country's flailing economy and markets and helping lift rock-bottom bond prices.

A group of Argentina's creditors said late last month it was concerned the IMF talks over a new deal were being "subordinated to politics." nL1N2KN28J nE1N2I600R


(Reporting by Jorge Iorio, writing by Eliana Raszewski and Aislinn Laing, editing by Richard Pullin)

((aislinn.laing@reuters.com;; +56 998188538))