The external debt of the private sector as of September 30, 2006 totaled US$
47,461 million, of which US$42,647 million (90%) corresponded to the
non-financial private sector (NFPS) and US$4,814 million (10%) to the private financial sector
(SPF).
The reduction of US$ 530 million in the external obligations of the NFPS in the
quarter basically reflected the result of the restructuring
processes of financial liabilities of companies belonging to the communications and gas sectors
, which implied a reduction in debt in the order
of US$ 800 million.
The NFPS continued to apply freely available external funds to
its debt services, a behavior consistent with what was
observed in the local exchange market in terms of net formation of
foreign assets in the sector.
On the contrary, there was an increase in the sector’s debts for
imports of goods, services, and for advances and
pre-financing of exports of goods. In particular, debts for
imports of goods grew by more than US$ 420 million in
line with the increase in the level of purchases, with a greater share of financing
from unrelated suppliers (parent companies and subsidiaries), marking the largest credit
available for purchases by Argentine importers.
The private sector’s access to external financing under
more advantageous financial conditions was reflected in the application of
fresh funds to the pre-cancellation of refinanced liabilities, mainly in
public service companies. Disbursements of fresh
financial funds received by the NFPS in the third quarter of 2006
amounted to US$ 924 million, corresponding to US$ 250 million to
debt
securities issuances. The reduction in the quarter of US$ 158 million of the SPF’s debt was
related to the net cancellation of financial debt. since maturities for a total amount of US$ 290 million were canceled
, which were
partly financed with funds from repo operations of public securities in the portfolio of
financial institutions.
The average life of the NFPS private external debt as of 30.09.06 was
around 2.1 years, while it was 3.6 years for the financial sector.
