Argentina Opposition Candidate Fernandez Pledges No Default

(Bloomberg) -- Argentine opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez said he won't lead the country into default if he wins the presidential election in October, seeking to reassure investors who fear a new government might renege on its borrowings.

“What we can guarantee is that we aren't going to fall into a new default. I received an Argentina in default. I don't want Argentina to fall back into that," Fernandez, 60, said in reference to his stint in Nestor Kirchner's government at the beginning of the century when the country was emerging from a devastating debt default.

Fernandez and his running mate, former President Cristina Kirchner, are trying to broaden support among independents and their Peronist movement ahead of the August primary elections to represent the party in the Oct. 27 national election. The mere possibility of populist Kirchner returning to power roiled markets in April. Business-friendly President Mauricio Macri is the favorite of investors, though since taking office in late 2015 he has presided over two recessions, soaring inflation and a collapse in the currency that forced him to seek an IMF bailout last year.

Fernandez said Friday that he will pull his country out of its latest crisis by falling back on his experience in turning around Argentina in the wake of the 2002 default and banking crisis.

“I've already lived this before and I know how to get out of this,” he told reporters in Montevideo.

Fernandez met with Uruguayan political leaders including former President Jose Mujica and Mercosur legislators during a one-day visit to Uruguay's capital.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ken Parks in Montevideo at kparks8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson

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