The Argentine government said on Tuesday it sold some $42 million in short-term paper to its state-run pension program for retired military officials, part of its strategy to raise funds without tapping markets. The government sold the 90-day bills in three separate sales of 150 million pesos ($14 million) each, it said in an announcement in the official bulletin.
The bills are a direct placement and not negotiable. Argentina's government regularly borrows from state bodies like the tax and the social security agencies to help meet its financing needs.
Holders of defaulted Argentine bonds who rejected the country's massive 2005 restructuring have sued in foreign courts, effectively barring the government from issuing debt in global capital markets due to fear of asset seizures. Argentina faces some $18 billion in debt obligations this year at a time when the economy is cooling because of the global economic downturn, and tax receipts are slowing.