*Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has published new figures which show that Argentina’s external debt totalled US$276.7bn in the fourth quarter of 2022, up US$3.9bn on the previous quarter. Indec highlights as a reason for the rise, an increase of US$8.1bn registered in general government debt. The rise in foreign debt comes amid more general concerns about default following the recent executive decree forcing domestic public-sector entities into operations involving their holdings of sovereign debt securities. On 24 March international credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Argentina’s Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘C’ from ‘CCC-’, and affirmed the Long-Term Local Currency IDR at ‘CCC-’, the lowest above default, citing the executive decree as the reason. Fitch said that the ‘C’ rating reflects its view that default is “imminent”.
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