The lawyers who understand the issues much better than me are excited (here and here) by the latest order from the NY Court of Appeals in Argentina’s long-running battle with holdout creditors.  After a hearing last Wednesday that by most accounts went extremely badly for Argentina (it’s probably not the best strategy to ask a court to overturn a ruling because you plan to ignore it, making it ineffectual), the Court issued an order giving Argentina a chance to propose alternative terms to its creditors.  By March 29, Argentina is ordered to provide “the precise terms of any alternative payment formula and schedule to which it is prepared to commit.”

Read more »

The Financial Times  has joined the chorus of those calling for a new statutory sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDRM), citing Argentina’s legal battle with holdout creditors as evidence of a broken system for restructuring sovereign debt.  The SDRM, as most commonly understood, envisages a formal restructuring process, analogous to national bankruptcy law, to deal with the debt of distressed countries.   It was an impractical and unnecessary idea when first raised by the IMF in 2001, and it remains so today.

Read more »