More problems for Argentina: country risk rises like foam and the peso scores a new record low

Argentina’s bonds plunged 1.7% on average after yesterday the government claimed that it did not pay the interest maturities of three bonds for some US $ 500 million.

This caused the country risk of the trans-Andean nation, measured by the JP Morgan bank, to rise sharply by 272 base points to 4,061 units, after falling close to 500 units last Friday before the presentation of an offer to holders of bonds.

In it Argentina offered an interest cut of 62%, a three-year grace period and a capital discount of 5.4% on its debt to be restructured for some US $ 65,000 million.

“In a context of full uncertainty, the countdown to the debt negotiations begins. Creditors have until May 8 to accept (or not) the government’s proposal,” said the brokerage Portfolio Personal Inversiones (PPI) in a report.

For its part, the peso in the interbank market depreciated 0.14% reaching a new historical low of $ 66.31 / $ 66.32 units per dollar, in a market regulated by the intervention of official banks and market sources estimated that the monetary authority released about US $ 50 million to regulate the liquidity of the place.

Meanwhile, the domestic currency in the marginal exchange segment fell a strong 6.78%, to $ 113 / $ 118 units per dollar, after marking a record intraday low of $ 120 units for sale.

“We have a scarce good (dollar bills), difficult to access and highly demanded, which ends up being reflected in the prices we have been seeing,” said Lucas Gardiner of the PPI.

In the stock market, the S&P Merval stock index fell 0.57%, to a provisional close of 30,378.94 units, after a marked start to the upside.

The Argentine province of Buenos Aires today presented a proposal to restructure its US $ 7,148 million debt to its creditors, in which it offered a three-year grace period and a 7% capital drawdown, according to an official statement.

The proposal is in line with the one made last week for its own debt by the Government of Argentina, which carries two years of an economic crisis that was aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic.