Argentina Battles U.S. Court Decision in Favor of Creditors

Like a lot of governments, the Argentine one sucks at paying its bills

Argentina will use all legal means to defend its position against a U.S. court ruling that would force the country to repay creditors who sued to collect on defaulted Argentine bonds, Economy Minister Hernan Lorenzino said on Monday.

Argentina staged the world's biggest sovereign debt default in 2002 during a deep economic crisis. About 93 percent of Argentine bondholders agreed to swap their defaulted debt for new issues in 2005 and 2010, but "holdout" creditors who rejected the swaps continued to press for full repayment on the bonds in courts throughout the world.

Late last month, a federal appeals court in New York ruled that Argentina violated bond provisions to treat all creditors equally when it made payments to creditors who accepted the swaps, while refusing to pay the holdouts.