Argentina reaches debt accord with "vulture" fund creditors

Argentine Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay confirmed Monday that Buenos Aires had reached an agreement with so-called vulture fund creditors holding overdue debt bonds, which is a great step toward restoring the South American country's financial position.

The agreement concludes drawn legal wrangling in a U.S. court and will allow the government to "regain (access to) credit and trust, both abroad and at home," said Prat-Gay.

Daniel Pollack, the court-appointed mediator in the case, said on Monday that the agreement in principle would see Buenos Aires "settle all claims" with the payment to those vulture fund creditors holding long-defaulted bonds.

The agreement still has to be approved by Congress.

"It took us eight weeks to resolve a matter that went 15 years without a solution," said Prat-Gay, referring to prior administrations' battle against the vulture funds, which had dried up loans for Argentina as the global financial community isolated the country.

The conflict dates back to 2001, when Argentina defaulted on nearly 100 billion U.S. dollars in debt. Nearly all the country's creditors eventually agreed to write off 70 percent of their bonds.

But 8 percent of the creditors refused, as some vulture fund creditors bought expired national debt after the default, and sued for full payment on the face value of the bonds, which amounted to billions of dollars. Endi