Argentina he lost another trial in London’s High Court this Wednesday and must pay 1,330 million eurosYes for manipulate official statistics linked to the GDP index.
Funds Palladian Partners, HBK Master Fund, Hirsh Group and Virtual Emerald International Limited sued Argentina in 2019 and sought compensation of up to €643 million.
In the last few hours, judge Simon Picken has ruled in favor of these four investment funds, in which he specified that the country will have to pay the 643 million euros plus the related interest.
They refer to GDP coupons. In 2014, with Axel Kicillof as economy minister, an annual growth of the previous year’s GDP was barely recorded less than 3.25%, level which allowed the annual payment to the holders of these bonds. The 2013 Growth Payment was due to be paid by the end of 2014.
Asset managers Palladian Partners LP, HBK Master Fund LP, Hirsh Group LLC and Virtual Emerald International Limited had said Argentina owed them just over half a million euros in payments linked to PIL warrants, designed to pay investors if a series of growth criteria are met or exceeded.
The funds say a change in statistics published by Argentina has meant that the instruments, issued in 2005 and 2010 as part of a debt restructuring, are no longer eligible for payment.
At the time, the nation’s economy ministry said it needed to change the way it measured GDP, as the previous way of doing it no longer accurately reflected the country’s economy.
Among the other reasons that generated the distortions, the main one was the manipulation of the consumer price index (CPI), on behalf and order of the then internal trade secretary Guillermo Moreno. By reducing this index, he indirectly inflated GDP, which ended up triggering the annual payment to the GDP coupon holders.
In July 2020, Judge Sara Cockerill, in a London High Court ruling, rejected Argentina’s request to stay the proceedings, paving the way for a full trial to be held.
Source: Clarin
