Argentine economy minister in New York for last ditch talks

NEW YORK/BUENOS AIRES, (Reuters) – Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof unexpectedly arrived in New York yesterday to join last-minute debt negotiations with “holdout” investors in a bid to avert a default.

After a long battle in the U.S. courts, Argentina has until the end of today to either pay in full the hedge funds that rejected its restructuring on their defaulted bonds, cut a deal or win a stay of the court order that triggered the deadline. Argentina’s isolation from global credit markets since its 2002 default on $100 billion means a default would be highly unlikely to cause financial turmoil abroad, but it would hurt a domestic economy already in recession. Kicillof’s appearance at the office of the court-appointed mediator presiding over the negotiations was his first in more than three weeks. The scant progress made in talks, and Kicillof’s absence, had raised questions over Argentina’s commitment to reach a settlement with the holdouts.