BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentina will pay holders of its restructured sovereign debt thanks to a bill passed by its Congress last week despite a U.S. court ruling, the country’s economy minister told a local radio show yesterday.
“With the law we have assured that the next coupon payment, due in a few days at the end of September, will be once again paid by us. So there can be no talk of default,” Axel Kicillof said on Radio Nacional Rock.
Argentina’s Congress passed a bill on Thursday designed to enable the government to resume debt payments to bondholders in defiance of a U.S. court ruling that tipped the country into default earlier this year.
The ruling allows the government to make payments on an estimated $29 billion in foreign-held bonds either in Argentina or elsewhere out of U.S. jurisdiction.
The government is racing against the clock to make a $200 million coupon payment due on Sept. 30.
U.S. Judge Thomas Griesa ruled that Argentina must settle a legal fight with a group of New York hedge funds over unpaid debt from a massive 2002 default before servicing its performing debt.
