Argentina agrees new debt swap

Buenos Aires: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, locked out of international capital markets since taking office, said an offer to holders of $20 billion of unpaid debt marks a “turning point” in her country’s history and will be a good deal for investors.

“I thought that if I could get us out of the default, I’d feel I’ve done something for this country,” Fernandez said in an interview yesterday, one hour after her government unveiled terms for the new debt swap. “We’re back in the world.”

A successful exchange of the bonds would enable Argentina, South America’s second-largest economy, to tap global markets after a record $95bn debt default in 2001. This is the last opportunity for bondholders to accept an exchange and profit from an annual economic growth rate of 6%, Fernandez said.

Sitting in the Casa Rosada, the pink government palace in downtown Buenos Aires where former President Juan Peron and his wife Evita addressed supporters six decades ago, Fernandez said her priority is to preserve and create jobs. Policies including loans to General Motors Co and accords with unions helped skirt a recession during the global economic crisis, she said.

“Come, and you will do well,” Fernandez said when asked what message she had for creditors.