In the medical bulletin on ailing Latin American debtors, the condition of Argentina, which owes $48 billion to foreign creditors, changed last week from critical to merely serious. The International Monetary Fund said that it had reached a preliminary agreement with Argentina on an economic program that will qualify the country to borrow nearly $1.2 billion from the agency. Buoyed by the prospect of new credit, Argentina was able to pay foreign banks some $250 million in overdue interest.
The bankers have little reason to rest easy, however. To satisfy the IMF, Argentina made promises that will be very hard to...