Argentina meets June debt rollover goal in key local auction

Argentina sold enough securities to roll over its debt coming due in the month of June in a local debt auction, easing concerns of an immediate financing shortfall.

The government raised about 248 billion pesos (US$2 billion) in local instruments in a key debt sale Tuesday night, enough to roll over all its bonds maturing by the end of the month, the Economy Ministry said in an emailed statement. The nation has accumulated about 16 billion pesos in net new financing through its local debt auctions in the month of June, according to the statement.

The sale was widely seen as a barometer of market sentiment after a sell off in peso securities in recent weeks on jitters that Argentina’s inflation-linked debt, which makes up the majority of the government’s local obligations, will become a growing burden as prices accelerate. Investors have been demanding shorter-dated notes as yields have soared above 12 percent in secondary-market trading, providing an all-in rate of more than 70 percent at current inflation rates.

“The results are pretty good, given the situation of the past few weeks” said Juan Manuel Pazos, chief economist at broker TPCG Valores in Buenos Aires. “Still, the government got no net new money in this auction and will still be facing large maturities in the coming months, particularly in September.”

Argentina’s sovereign bonds edged up on the news, with dollar-denominated bonds due in 2030 inching up 0.24 cent to about 22.4 cents on the dollar as of 4.45pm Tuesday in New York.

Economy Minister Martín Guzmán said in an interview with local radio on Monday that Argentina’s local debt is “absolutely sustainable” and an anchor for the entire economy.

Argentina was seeking to refinance about 245 billion pesos in local debt maturing by the end of the month, about 90 percent of which was thought to be held by private investors, according to a note from Portfolio Personal Inversiones, a local brokerage. The government exchanged an additional 358 billion pesos in a swap last week, and hiked interest rates three percentage points on June 16 to encourage investors to hold more peso denominated paper.