Knife-fights.

This article discusses the Argentine government's avoidance of default. After threatening to the last that it might not, on March 9th the Argentine government paid on time$ 3.1 billion in interest and principal it owed the IMF, so averting the biggest default in the institution's history. But Argentina gets something in return: later this month the IMF will recommend to its board that the country should be paid the money back again, part of a$ 13.5 billion facility agreed last September. In making threats not to pay, President N& eacute; stor Kirchner might have thought that he could browbeat Horst K& ouml; hler, then managing director of the Fund. Yet on March 4th Mr Kö hler suddenly stepped down after being nominated to be president of Germany. In September, Argentina's economy minister, Roberto Lavagna, offered to return to creditors a quarter of the bonds' face value.