WASHINGTON, April 16: The International Monetary Fund again asked Argentina on Friday to broker a deal with creditors who still hold its 2002 defaulted debt, and said such a move was key for the country’s return to world markets. Anoop Singh, the IMF’s director for the Western Hemisphere department, said the fund believed Argentina would benefit from reconciling with investors who refused to agree to its massive debt swap offer that ended in February.

This is an issue that we are continuing to discuss, Singh, the fund’s top IMF official for Latin America, told a press conference in Washington.

The (IMF) view is that dealing with the unresolved creditors would accelerate sustainability, would accelerate Argentina’s return to international capital markets, he said.

The framework within which we are discussing these issues is the framework that we believe is in Argentina’s own interest ... based on entrenching high medium-term growth in Argentina, accelerating the return of capital, accelerating investment and productivity.

Argentina has ruled out giving a second chance to creditors who did not participate in the swap, which offered investors a 70 per cent write-off of their holdings. Bondholders holding nearly $20 billion in defaulted debt turned down the offer.

Argentina’s debt stance is also likely to be raised at weekend meetings of the Group of Seven industrialized nations in Washington. A European G7 source told reporters on Friday the IMF should not lend to Argentina until it negotiates with its holdout creditors.

He said both the government and fund were concerned about the recent rise, and noted Argentina has already raised interest rates twice to address inflation risks.—Reuters