NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 2, 2005--Standard&Poor's Rating Services announced today that it expects to assign its 'B-' foreign and local currency issuer credit ratings to the Republic of Argentina following the financial close of the current debt rescheduling exercise. In addition, Standard&Poor's expects to assign its 'B-' rating to the new debt that is exchanged for defaulted debt. Argentina has been rated 'SD' (selective default) since its debt default in late 2001. It is Standard&Poor's policy to reset a sovereign credit rating for a government emerging from default at its forward-looking estimate of creditworthiness. Standard&Poor's defines emergence from a sovereign default (short of resuming payment on the defaulted instrument) as
