Argentina ordered to pay its bond holders
ARGENTINA could be pushed into a fresh default on its debts, after a US judge ordered the country to pay holders of $1.33bn-worth of bonds that were defaulted upon during its 2001 financial crisis.
Judge Thomas Griesa has lifted a previous order stalling payments to so-called holdout investors, many of them hedge funds, who refused to take part in two swaps of defaulted debt.
Argentina’s left-leaning president, Cristina Fernandez, has said her government will not pay “one dollar” to the firms involved.
Fernandez refers to holdouts like NML Capital as “vulture funds” because they buy distressed or defaulted debt and then sue in international courts to get paid in full. If Argentina refuses to pay, the US could step in to block the country’s payments to creditors, triggering a technical default.