ABSTRACT
The foreign debt runs through a good part of Argentina’s economic history. Since the first years of independent life, foreign loans accumulated, and their inability to pay them. The international economic cycles had the primary transmission mechanism in Argentina’s external debt, which was influenced negatively by the internal situation, which gave the political debt nuances. The rules imposed by creditors conditioned local economic policies. This financing, which was supposed to make up for the shortage of domestic capital and foreign currency for development, invariably became a significant obstacle. This chapter covers the different stages of Argentina’s foreign debt. It reflects on the debt cycles reiteration, its link with the international context, and the country’s ups and downs in the legal sovereignty defense, from the first large loan with the British bank to the present day, when the threat of a new default is looming after four years of accelerated indebtedness, with the same global and local logic.
