BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s economy ministry said on Thursday it had exchanged around 257 billion pesos ($4 billion) in a debt swap for new instruments maturing between 2021-2024, as the government looks to restructure its debt amid a credit crunch.
The value of the new instruments totaled 304 billion pesos ($4.794 billion), the ministry said.
The auction, reported exclusively by Reuters on Wednesday, was part of Argentina’s broader drive to gain more time to make payments amid a widespread debt crisis that risks pushing the country into default.
Argentina has been focused on rolling over its local bonds though a series of debt swap auctions, but it faces a tougher challenge with its international debt. The country is racing to strike a deal with foreign creditors by the end of the month.
It is also in talks about revamping its borrowings from the International Monetary Fund, which extended a then $57 billion credit facility to the South American grains producer in 2018. It has so far disbursed around $44 billion.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison and Nicolas Misculin; Editing by Sandra Maler and Grant McCool)
