Standard&Poor's lowered its long-term local and foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on the Republic of Argentina to selective default ('SD'), on Nov. 6, 2001, following the government's announcement of a debt exchange targeting domestic investors. (References throughout are to long-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings.) Unlike the June 2001 comprehensive debt exchange, the November exchange offered new debt with terms less favorable than the obligations being replaced; the maturity of each obligation maturing before 2010 was extended by three years, while the coupon on the affected bonds was reduced to 7% or less. The total value of all new securities is less than the originally contracted amount. As a consequence, the ratings of all eligible obligations were subsequently
