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Article: Priced for perfection; Emerging-market bonds.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 7, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Invest in emerging-market bonds at your peril
JUST like Victorian vicars preaching temperance, it is always easy for those who warn of the intoxicating perils of investing in emerging markets to find sad victims, shadows of their former selves, who have fallen prey to the temptation of high-yielding paper. The greatest victims today are holders of bonds issued by the Republic of Argentina. Since late 2001 Argentina has been in default on these, to the tune now of $100 billion. That is the largest-ever unpaid debt, though the country may soon beat its own record. For in coming months, a nasty game of blackmail with the International Monetary Fund may end with ...