Inter American Development Bank (IADB), Argentina and vulture funds

Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino warned on the negative impact that vulture funds might have on the international financial system, during an encounter organized by the Inter American Development Bank (IADB).

The IADB encounter was also attended by the US Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew and by the head of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, as well as by ministers of Economy of the region.

Lorenzino held that as the Government of France stated in a presentation before the US Supreme Court, the impact of the vulture funds’ actions “will have an impact on the sovereign debt swap process of different countries.”

“A 0.45 percent of creditors, with a clear speculative motivation, wants to put at risk a country, a society and a sovereign nation, a whole economy, and this, as a sovereign nation, is unacceptable to us,” he said, referring to the legal conflict between Argentina and vulture funds before the US judiciary.

Lorenzino added that vulture funds “demand a treatment that is totally UNFAIRt for the rest of creditors, invoking the equal treatment clause.”

The Minister was asked by Télam on statements by Jay Newman, Manager of Paul Singer’s vulture fund, who according to the Financial Times, proposed a negotiation to Argentina.

“What do they want to negotiate, if they are taking Argentina before the US courts and tried to embargo our Libertad Frigate?”, Lorenzino queried.

He added that Argentina has responded by “reopening for the third time the debt swap, which is the only way to enforce the ´pari passu’ (equal treatment) clause to all the creditors.”