Argentina to pay back $3.5 bn in debt this week

Argentina this week will pay back $3.5 billion in debt stemming from a bond issued as a result of a debt restructuring, President Cristina Kirchner said. She made the announcement of Friday's payment of debt related to restructurings carried out in 2005 and 2010 as she inaugurated an industrial facility on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. "Friday, we will pay $3.5 billion in bonds of the debt restructured in 2005 and 2010," she said in a televised speech. Last week, a New York appeals court dismissed a motion by hedge funds to force Argentina to make a security deposit as Buenos Aires sought to overturn an order that it repay $1.3 billion to holders of defaulted bonds. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals had earlier granted Buenos Aires' request to put a hold on a November 21 lower court ruling that Argentina make good on bonds held by US hedge funds within weeks or fall in default on all its debt. Those funds then filed a motion seeking a security deposit that would show Argentina was acting in good faith, but last week, the court rejected that bid. A hearing in the case has been set for February 27, 2013, again putting off a reckoning over Argentina's debt, which fell into arrears 11 years ago.