Argentina's USD bonds fall as investors worry about reserves buildup
Adds context, comments from analyst and IMF in paragraphs 3-8
July 16 (Reuters) -Argentina's dollar-denominated bonds resumed their weekly fall on Tuesday with all restructured issues down over 1 cent in price, as investor concern lingers over the government's decision to sell dollars and its effect on reserves accumulation.
The 2035 maturity fell the most with a 1.7 cents decline, while the 2041 dropped 1.5 cents to trade at 37.29 cents, the lowest since mid March according to LSEG data.
Bonds had weakened on Monday after the government announced over the weekend it would sell dollars to protect the peso even as the official exchange rate is tightly controlled in a crawling peg.
"The government began selling dollars in an effort to boost the currency and tame inflation, prompting investor concerns that reserves will be wasted," said Jamie Fallon, economist at Tellimer Research in a note, in which he nonetheless reaffirms his positive stance on the South American country.
Argentina's benchmark stock market index .MERV fell over 12% Monday and was down as much as 5.75% on Tuesday.
Separately, the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday cut Argentina's 2024 GDP growth forecast sharply to a contraction of 3.5% from a 2.8% contraction in its April forecast.
IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told a news conference the fund is projecting inflation of about 140% at year-end 2024 compared to 211% in 2023.
"The government has delivered a balanced budget," Gourinchas said. "The question is whether it can continue doing so in the future and that's where engagement with the parliament and high quality measures on the fiscal side are going to be very important. And there are signs that it's moving in that direction."
Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
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