2015年经济学人 阿根廷债务违约 第八次不走运

Argentina defaults

Eighth time unlucky

Cristina Fernandez argues that her country's latest default is different. She is missing the point

ARGENTINA'S first bond, issued in 1824, was supposed to have a lifespan of 46 years. Less than four years later, the government defaulted.

Resolving the ensuing stand-off with creditors¹ took 29 years.

Since then seven more defaults have followed, the most recent this week,

when Argentina failed to make a payment on bonds issued as partial compensation to victims of the previous default, in 2001.

Most investors² think they can see a pattern in all this, butArgentina's president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, insists the latest default is not like the others.

Her government, she points out, had transferred the full 539m it owed to the banks that administer the bonds.

It isAmerica's courts (the bonds were issued under American law) that blocked the payment, at the behest of the tiny minority of owners of bonds from 2001 who did not accept the restructuringArgentinaoffered them in 2005 and again in 2010.

These “hold-outs”, balking³ at the 65% haircut the restructuring entailed⁴, not only persuaded a judge that they should be paid in full but also got him to freeze payments on the restructured bonds untilArgentinacoughs up.

Argentinaclaims that paying the hold-outs was impossible. It is not just that they are “vultures” as Argentine officials often put it,

who bought the bonds for cents on the dollar after the previous default and are now holding those who accepted the restructuring (accounting for 93% of the debt) to ransom⁵.

The main problem is that a clause in the restructured bonds prohibitsArgentinafrom offering the hold-outs better terms without paying everyone else the same.

Since it cannot afford to do that, it says it had no choice but to default.

Yet it is not certain that the clause requiring equal treatment of all bondholders would have applied⁶,

given that Argentinawould not have been paying the hold-outs voluntarily, but on the courts' orders.

Moreover, some owners of the restructured bonds had agreed to waive⁷ their rights;

had Argentinamade a concerted effort to persuade the remainder to do the same, it might have succeeded.

Lawyers and bankers have suggested various ways around the clause in question, which expires at the end of the year.

But Argentina's government was slow to consider these options or negotiate with the hold-outs, hiding instead behind indignant nationalism.

Don't try to flee, Argentina

Ms Fernandez is right that the consequences ofAmerica's court rulings have been perverse⁸,

unleashing⁹ a big financial dispute in an attempt to solve a relatively¹⁰ small one.

But hers is not the first government to be hit with an awkward verdict. Instead of railing against it, she should have tried to minimise the harm it did.

Defaulting has helped no one: none of the bondholders will now be paid,Argentinalooks like a pariah¹¹ again, and its economy will remain starved of loans and investment.

Happily, much of the damage can still be undone¹². It is not too late to strike a deal with the hold-outs or back an ostensibly private effort to buy out their claims.

A quick fix would make it easier forArgentinato borrow again internationally.

That, in turn, would speed development of big oil and gas deposits, the income from which could help ease its money troubles.

More important, it would help to change perceptions ofArgentinaas a financial rogue¹³ state.

Over the past year or so Ms Fernandez seems to have been trying to rehabilitateArgentina's image and resuscitate¹⁴ its faltering¹⁵ economy.

She settled financial disputes with government creditors and with Repsol, a Spanish oil firm whose Argentine assets she had expropriated in 2012.

This week's events have overshadowed all that. For its own sake, and everyone else's,Argentinashould hold its nose and do a deal with the hold-outs.

1 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 balking   

n.慢行，阻行v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的现在分词 )；（指马）不肯跑

参考例句：

• He picked up a stone and let fly at the balking dog. 他捡起一块石头朝那狂吠的狗扔去。 来自互联网
• Democrats won't pass the plan without votes from rank-and-file Republicans andof-and-file Republicans were reportedly balking. 没有普通共和党议员的支持，民主党人无法通过这项方案——到周四晚间，据悉那些普通共和党人在阻挡（该计划）。 来自互联网

4 entailed   

使…成为必要( entail的过去式和过去分词 )； 需要； 限定继承； 使必需

参考例句：

• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son. 城堡和土地限定由长子继承。
• The house and estate are entailed on the eldest daughter. 这所房子和地产限定由长女继承。

5 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

6 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

7 waive   

vt.放弃，不坚持(规定、要求、权力等)

参考例句：

• I'll record to our habitat office waive our claim immediately.我立即写信给咱们的总公司提出放弃索赔。
• In view of the unusual circumstances,they agree to waive their requirement.鉴于特殊情况，他们同意放弃他们的要求。

8 perverse   

adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的

参考例句：

• It would be perverse to stop this healthy trend.阻止这种健康发展的趋势是没有道理的。
• She gets a perverse satisfaction from making other people embarrassed.她有一种不正常的心态，以使别人难堪来取乐。

9 unleashing   

v.把（感情、力量等）释放出来，发泄( unleash的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Company logos: making people's life better by unleashing Cummins power. 公司理念：以康明斯动力建设更美好的生活！ 来自互联网
• Sooner or later the dam will burst, unleashing catastrophic destruction. 否则堤坝将崩溃，酿成灾难。 来自互联网

10 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

11 pariah   

n.被社会抛弃者

参考例句：

• Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village.不一会儿，汤姆碰上了村里的少年弃儿。
• His landlady had treated him like a dangerous criminal,a pariah.房东太太对待他就像对待危险的罪犯、对待社会弃儿一样。

12 undone   

a.未做完的，未完成的

参考例句：

• He left nothing undone that needed attention.所有需要注意的事他都注意到了。

13 rogue   

n.流氓；v.游手好闲

参考例句：

• The little rogue had his grandpa's glasses on.这淘气鬼带上了他祖父的眼镜。
• They defined him as a rogue.他们确定他为骗子。

14 resuscitate   

v.使复活，使苏醒

参考例句：

• A policeman and then a paramedic tried to resuscitate her.一名警察和一位护理人员先后试图救活她。
• As instructed by Rinpoche,we got the doctors to resuscitate him.遵照仁波切的指示，我们找来医生帮他进行急救。

15 faltering   

犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的

参考例句：

• The economy shows no signs of faltering. 经济没有衰退的迹象。
• I canfeel my legs faltering. 我感到我的腿在颤抖。