waltermasoni
Caribbean Trader
Argentina Foreign Currency Ratings Lowered To 'SD' On Postponement Of U.S.-Dollar Principal And Interest Payments
- 07-Apr-2020 14:12 EDT
- Table of Contents
- The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated Argentina's already stressed fiscal needs and resources, leading the administration of President Alberto Fernandez to reconfigure its financial planning and budgetary priorities.
- On April 6, it differentiated treatment of Argentine-law foreign currency bonds from that of foreign-law foreign currency bonds and postponed payment of principal and interest on this debt through December 2020, or a potentially earlier date, as decided by the ministry of finance.
- This constitutes a default under our distressed exchange criteria, and we are lowering our long- and short-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on Argentina to 'SD/SD' from 'CCC-/C'.
- There is no outlook on the 'SD' foreign and local currency long-term sovereign credit ratings (the latter were lowered to 'SD' on Jan. 21, 2020), but we could raise the ratings following the presentation of a comprehensive restructuring of Argentina's foreign-law foreign currency commercial debt, currently being formulated, and its acceptance by creditors.
