Argentina’s creditors accused of “vulture-like behaviour”
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Article summary
Argentina has agreed a deal with its Paris Club creditors, which have been accused of aggressive behaviour in demanding repayment of double the original debt.
In May, Argentina reached an agreement with the Paris Club, a group of rich country creditors, to begin repaying debt of up to $9.7 billion that Argentina defaulted on during its 2001 economic crisis (see Update 26). Jorge Gaggero from the University of Buenos Aires emphasised that the importance of the deal was in “the exclusion of the IMF” from the Paris Club deal, meaning “the absence of perverse policy conditionalities and supervision.” Civil society groups criticised the repayment amount, double the original debt. Tim Jones of UK-based NGO Jubilee Debt Campaign said: “Rich countries have condemned the profiteering of so-called vulture funds in debt crises around the world, but this is vulture-like behaviour from the Paris Club themselves. Trying to double their money from Argentina’s default after private lenders accepted a two-thirds write-down is extraordinary hypocrisy.”