Argentina will pay its entire $6.7 billion debt to the Paris Club of lending countries, President Cristina Fernandez said Tuesday, in a move that restored investor confidence and opened the way to new capital inflows as the Argentine economy slows. The payment will be made using about one-sixth of the country's $47.1 billion in foreign currency reserves, and “confirms one more time Argentina's willingness to meet its international obligations,” Fernandez told a Buenos Aires news conference. Argentina defaulted on $95 billion in bonds in 2001, the largest default by any country in history. Former President Nestor Kirchner restructured most of that debt in 2005 and repaid a $9.5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2006 but left the Paris Club debt outstanding, prompting criticism from international lenders.
