Argentina will receive $ 6 billion from foreign banks


01/13/2017

Argentinian Government agreed with a group of six foreign banks on loans for total amount of $ 6 billion for a period of 18 months, said the country’s Finance Minister Luis Caputo.



The transaction, which substantially reduces the country’s need to sell bonds this year, will be closed shortly before Louis Caputo and other officials will set on an international tour and will promote issue of bonds in the amount of up to $ 7 billion on next Thursday.

Under the deal, Argentina will take in $ 1 billion from Santander, BBVA Frances, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and J.P. Morgan, paying interest at LIBOR plus 290 basis points.

The deal will help ensure that the government will be able to cover most of financing needs in the first month of 2017, writes The Wall Street Journal. It also saves the Argentine authorities from the need to issue more debt securities next week at a higher rate than they would do otherwise.

"This is very positive news for us, - said Caputo at a press conference. - This reduces our need to borrow $ 6 billion on the market."

Finance Minister of Argentina also pointed out that his team is working to cover funding needs this year. This is about $ 20 billion of new debt, and the official hopes to cushion impact of potentially higher interest rates, which, according to some economists, may rise in connection with election of Donald Trump as US president.

"Nobody knows what will happen - Caputo said -. But our task is to minimize the risk." According to the minister, it helps to "reduce uncertainty, so that people can say that this year will not be difficult."

Argentina plans to sell dollar bonds worth up to $ 5 billion in peso-denominated bonds worth up to $ 2 billion, said Caputo. According to him, the government plans to maintain investor interest in the additional issues of bonds and, probably, will not sell the maximum possible amount of debt in the next week.

Finance Minister also said that the ratio of debt to GDP of Argentina is one of the lowest in Latin America, and it is expected that demand for Argentine bonds will be high.

source: wsj.com