Argentine Debt Plumbs New Depths as Political Tensions Mount
- Dollar bonds sink lower than worst moment of 2020 debt talks
- Market skeptical of Batakis’ comments as bonds dip to 20 cents
The Ministry of the Economy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.
Photographer: Sarah Pabst/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Even by the standards of Argentina’s debt crisis and default of 2020, the nation’s sovereign bonds are now trading at unprecedented lows.
Benchmark notes due 2030 have slumped almost 4 cents on the dollar to 20 cents since Silvina Batakis was named as economy minister on July 3, threatening a lurch to the left in a government battling economic turmoil. Prior to the restructuring of debt two years ago, the bonds, which had higher coupons than today’s ones, never fell below 23 cents.