The JPMorgan EMBI index for Argentina, known as “country risk,” has been rising in recent weeks due to uncertainty surrounding next year’s elections, recent economic data, and lower reserve purchases by the Central Bank. 

Renewed volatility in United States Treasury bonds over the last week — which sent their yields soaring to levels not seen in more than two decades — only exacerbated this problem.

On Friday, Argentine debt bonds issued under New York law fell again, accumulating a drop of up to 4% in just the last five trading sessions. 

This caused country risk, which reflects the interest rate Argentina would pay to borrow abroad, to rise to 602 basis points in the week’s final trading session. In mid-July, the index was at 402 points, its lowest level since April 2018.

So far this month, the index has accumulated a 22% increase.

Pablo Repetto, head of research at brokerage firm Aurum Valores, told the Herald that the increase in country risk is the result of both international and local factors. 

On the global front, the........

© Buenos Aires Herald