Argentina defaulted on its sovereign debt for the second time in 13 years on Wednesday, after frantic last-minute talks between the country’s government and holdout creditors failed to strike a deal.
Economy minister Axel Kicillof said “vulture funds” had rejected a renewed offer from the government that had also been made to bondholders who accepted debt restructurings after the 2001 default, but that it was “impossible” to pay them any more.
Shortly before Mr Kicillof’s declarations, Standard & Poor’s placed Argentina’s credit rating on “selective default”, after it failed to make a $539m interest payment on its debt by a Wednesday deadline.