Argentina has reached a landmark deal with a group of creditor nations to repay its long-standing debt without the involvement of the International Monetary Fund. Argentina is still trying to recover from a massive economic crisis and default more than a decade ago, which followed years of neoliberal reforms backed by the IMF and World Bank. Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner hailed the deal to pay the Paris Club $9.7 billion.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: “It’s the first time in the history of the Paris Club that a country in our conditions has negotiated with a multilateral body without the intervention of the International Monetary Fund and without giving up the autonomy that a sovereign country should have, and which reveals to us that when we’re allowed to grow, when we’re allowed to develop our own policies, that when we’re allowed to generate jobs and employment, the conditions exist to honor one’s commitments and to take charge of its debt. We’re not, as the vultures say, serial debtors. They, the international financial capitalists, are serial predators, not just on our economy but of many economies in the world.”

Part of Argentina’s plan for economic recovery involves opening its vast shale reserves to foreign oil and gas firms.