Buenos Aires: Argentina, which defaulted on a mountain of debt more than a decade ago, expressed solidarity with Greece today as it inches toward missing a critical debt payment.
Greece's woes are sending ripples through stock markets around the world and prompting worries the country may be headed toward abandoning the euro.
A senior Argentine official defended the Greek prime minister's idea of holding a referendum next Sunday on austerity measures that its creditors are now demanding in exchange for more bailout money.
Anibal Fernandez, chief of the Argentine cabinet of ministers, said the long-running Greek crisis was caused by previous austerity measures that the IMF demanded from Athens.
Argentina has been in the same boat, he said. The country defaulted on 100 billion dollars in debt in 2001, and in recent years has fought bitterly in the courts with investors who bought up some of that debt at fire-sale prices.
Fernandez said Greece should keep an eye out for such investors, which the Argentine government likens to predators and calls "vulture funds."
Investors "are waiting for things to turn out the exact same way for Greece, so they can start preying on them just as they have with everyone," Fernandez told a news conference.
Greece's woes are sending ripples through stock markets around the world and prompting worries the country may be headed toward abandoning the euro.
A senior Argentine official defended the Greek prime minister's idea of holding a referendum next Sunday on austerity measures that its creditors are now demanding in exchange for more bailout money.
Argentina has been in the same boat, he said. The country defaulted on 100 billion dollars in debt in 2001, and in recent years has fought bitterly in the courts with investors who bought up some of that debt at fire-sale prices.
Advertisement
Investors "are waiting for things to turn out the exact same way for Greece, so they can start preying on them just as they have with everyone," Fernandez told a news conference.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
FIFA Says Opening Probe Into Argentina Players' Racist Chants Acropolis In Athens Shut For Several Hours Daily. Heat Is The Reason Hard Rock Stadium Hits Back At CONMEBOL After Copa America Final Chaos Barack Obama Wants Joe Biden To Pull Out Of US Presidential Race: Report World's Largest Isolated Tribe Makes Rare Appearance In New Footage 32 Dead In Bangladesh Unrest, Protesters Set Fire To State TV Headquarters Comedy Legend Bob Newhart Dead At 94: Publicist Israeli Strike Kills Field Commander In Elite Hezbollah Unit: Report Delhi-San Francisco Air India Flight Diverted To Russia After Engine Glitch Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.