Argentina's Guzmán heads to U.S. for crunch IMF debt talks

FILE PHOTO: Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzman poses for a picture before an interview with Reuters at the Economy Ministry, in Buenos Aires, Argentina December 10, 2020. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzmán will travel to New York on Wednesday night to meet investors before heading to Washington for talks with the International Monetary Fund, a government source said.

Argentina is looking to replace a lending program signed by the previous government in 2018 and for which it currently owes the IMF about $45 billion.

Guzmán told local media on Monday that while he hoped to sign a fresh agreement with the IMF in May as originally planned, that date was flexible.

Delays to a deal being signed have generated frustration among bondholders who see a new agreement as key for giving more stability to the country’s flailing economy and markets and helping lift rock-bottom bond prices.

A group of Argentina’s creditors said late last month it was concerned the IMF talks over a new deal were being “subordinated to politics.”

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