...- Argentina announced a peso-debt exchange offer for $55.3 billion equivalent of 15 debt instruments that mature in 2024 in return for new inflation-linked peso-denominated debt, pushing maturities beyond this year into 2025-2028. - In line with the peso-debt exchanges conducted in January, March, and June 2023, we consider this transaction distressed based on the likelihood of conventional default--absent participation of creditors--given the sovereign's acute macroeconomic vulnerabilities and limited ability to extend maturity and place paper in the local market without relying on exchanges. - We view a distressed exchange as tantamount to default, and, as a result, we lowered our local currency sovereign credit ratings on Argentina to '##/##' from '###-/C'. We affirmed our '###-/C' foreign currency ratings. Upon completion of the debt exchange, we would likely raise our long-term local currency rating to the '###' category. - The negative outlook on the long-term foreign currency rating...
