Why Argentina Struggles for a Lifeline

Ever since Argentina’s historic 2001–02 default—which followed prior defaults in 1989 and 1982—it has effectively been frozen out of global capital markets. It still owes the Paris Club of creditor nations an estimated $10 billion, and it’s still embroiled in a legal fight with private creditors who refused to participate in earlier debt restructurings and are demanding full repayment on their defaulted bonds. In mid-October, Financial Times correspondent Benedict Mander noted that, “Of a total of 439 legal disputes between countries and companies” at the World Bank’s International Court for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, “no fewer than 50 involve Argentina—far more than anywhere else, with socialist Venezuela lagging some way behind in second place.” (As Mander acknowledged, the number was about to drop from 50 to 45, with Argentina announcing on October 18 that it had agreed to issue $500 million worth of debt to settle disputes with three American companies and two European ones.)