Martín Guzmán goes to renegotiate the debt with the Paris Club

Economy Minister Martín Guzmán will travel to France next week to advance with the debt renegotiation which Argentina maintains with the Paris Club.

The meeting was agreed this Wednesday morning and will take place on next Wednesday 6 July. The goal is to restructure the agreement reached by then Minister Axel Kicillof with the agency in 2014.

Last May, the government agreed with the Paris Club to defer payment of the $ 2 billion debt until a new settlement was renegotiated. by 30 September 2024.

In March, Guzmán had negotiated with the authorities of the Paris Club in France extend until the end of June this year the current regime. But, after the approval of the agreement with the IMF on March 25, the institute based in the French capital has endorsed the possibility of a longer deferral of payments.

The balance of the debt expired on May 31, 2022, as agreed in 2021. To update it, a new date was defined on September 30, 2024. But the expectation was to try to finalize the renegotiation by June 30. . Hence the journey of Guzmán.

The economy considers debt restructuring essential to reconnect with the export credit agencies of the club’s countries. More taking into account the need for investments that Argentina requires, especially in the energy sector.

Amounts and rates

Since 1956, Argentina has negotiated nine times with the Paris Club for a total of $ 20 billion. In 2014, Kicillof restructured $ 9.7 billion, with an original repayment term of 5 years. And he agreed that if Argentina extends that limit by another 2 years, it would continue to pay an interest rate of 9%. This happened in 2021.

Thus, the country entered a new status and the expiration date was extended until May of that year. On the verge of default Guzmán has accepted a new “bridge of time” and of the $ 2.4 billion maturing in July, $ 230 million was paid that month and $ 188 million in February 2022 “because of the principal.” Then, in March, the agreement with the IMF reopened negotiations until June 30.

In the program agreed with the Fund, the Government envisaged payments to the Paris Club totaling $ 760 million in 2022 ($ 190 million at the end of March, June, September and December). The authorities say so there will be new partial payments, but the repayment term and the disbursement scheme are negotiatedalong with the interest rate, which Guzmán intends to reduce.

The envisaged timetable included, in a first phase, interviews with the technicians of the creditor institution and, once the general conditions of the agreement were reached, the the second phase with a face-to-face meeting in Paris with the 16 creditor countries to sign bilateral agreements with each of them. It is not known if Guzmán is already on his way with advanced negotiations.

Argentina has debts with 16 countries of the Paris Club for about 40 credits in 8 currencies. Only Germany and Japan concentrate 60% of loans, followed by Italy, the Netherlands, the United States, Switzerland and France.

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