Argentina – holdout settlement in sight
Argentina’s long dispute with its holdout creditors seemed to be moving into its final stages during the course of February. On 2 February the country’s negotiating team reached a pre-agreement with a group of Italian creditors, and on 5 February two out of six US-based hedge funds with court judgements against Argentina accepted a settlement. Negotiations with the remaining four hedge funds continued, but on 19 February Argentina’s position was strengthened when New York Judge Thomas Griesa said he was minded to lift his pari passu injunctions, which prevent Argentina making normal debt service payments to the bulk of its creditors until it settles the dispute by paying the holdouts. It is these injunctions that have pushed the country into technical default since mid-2014.