April 16 (Reuters) – The World Bank Group said on Thursday it is working on a guarantee of up to $2 billion to help refinance “a relevant portion of Argentina’s debt.”
The operation is subject to approval by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors, the bank said.
The loan would be mostly backed by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday.
Argentina’s government signalled its intent to return to international capital markets last year, only to later talk about cheaper ways to access financing, including through multilaterals like the IMF and the World Bank.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo has said that he wants the spread in its international bonds, currently above 500 basis points, to drop closer to 250 bps before tapping international bond markets.
Argentina’s current credit rating, deep into ‘junk’ status, would make it hard to hit that target soon.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos in New York, editing by Karin Strohecker)
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