The Argentine government is taking a stab at reviving the country’s feeble capital markets but it has tremendous, perhaps insurmountable, hurdles to overcome.
Category: Argentina
Emphasizing the Positive
Argentina has cast a long shadow over the region, but a select group of issuers can still raise capital in any form, as long as they get the price, structure and timing right.
Learning the Hard Way
Argentina is sunk in a national depression. The country needs bold action to deal with its problems. But the government of Presidente Fernando de la Rúa is losing control.
Pecom Energia Tides Itself Over
With investors even more skittish, Argentine companies are relying on their relationship banks for financing. Pecom’s unsecured note is carrying the company through a rough time in the markets.
Sweet Calamity
Argentina may be falling to pieces, but the country’s best companies have learned from the decades of experience that with robust balance sheets, international expansion and steady cashflows, they can do more than just survive. Unfortunately, they are a minority.
The End of An Asset Class?
Fund manager Mohamed A. El-Erian contemplates the future of emerging market assets in the aftermath of Argentina’s crisis. Despite the gloomy outlook for the region, tighter fiscal policies, more transparent and market-compatible rules, improvements in debt management and greater international reserves now cushion most Latin American economies.
Latin America’s Free Market Fixation
Harvard’s Jeffrey Sachs argues that Argentina’s brush with economic collapse should force everyone involved with Latin America to reconsider the merits of free market orthodoxy.
Swapping Money for Time
Has Argentina’s massive debt exchange enabled it to avoid a debt payments crisis? Or will its escalating interest rates wreck the sovereign’s ability to remain solvent?
Shedding Its Burden
Argentina’s $20 billion debt exchange will give the country time to put its fiscal house in order. But the swap won’t address the challenge of reviving long-term economic growth.
