The Wall Street Journal

Monday, September 17, 2012
By Nathalie Tadena

Moody's Investors Service lowered its outlook on Argentina to negative from stable, citing a continued haphazard policy environment, concerns about the country's official-data reporting and the lack of resolution of debt arrears.

Moody's rates Argentina at B3, six levels into junk territory.

The ratings firm said the South American country's haphazard economic-policy decisions, as evidenced most recently by the nationalization without compensation of oil company YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA), as well as questions about the reliability of official statistics, make it difficult to know with certainty Argentina's real economic condition and ability to manage adverse shock. Additionally, the firm said Argentina's continued underreporting of inflation leads to underpayment on more than 20% of the country's government debt that is indexed to inflation.

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