Argentina strikes breakthrough deal with IMF in $40 bln debt talks

Argentina has reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revamp some $40 billion in debt, President Alberto Fernandez said on Friday, a major breakthrough in tense and winding talks to restructure huge loans the country cannot repay. The South American country has been locked in talks for over a year with the IMF over a new program to revamp debt outstanding from a failed $57 billion loan deal from 2018, the Fund's largest ever.

Argentina has reached a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revamp some $40 billion in debt, President Alberto Fernandez said on Friday, a major breakthrough in tense and winding talks to restructure huge loans the country cannot repay.

The South American country has been locked in talks for over a year with the IMF over a new program to revamp debt outstanding from a failed $57 billion loan deal from 2018, the Fund's largest ever. It faces a $700 million payment due Friday. "With this agreement, we can order the present and build a future," Fernandez said in an address to the nation from the presidential residence in Buenos Aires, adding the agreement would not limit the country's economic plans or spending.

"We had an un-payable debt, which left us without a present and a future. Now we have a reasonable agreement that will allow us to grow and meet our obligations through our growth." Recent uncertainty over a deal has hammered Argentina's sovereign bonds, while anti-IMF rhetoric has risen in the grain producing country, with some protesters on Thursday calling for the government to suspend repayments.

The two sides had been at loggerheads over how quickly Argentina should reduce its fiscal deficit, with the country arguing it needed to be able to maintain spending to preserve a fragile economic growth recovery.