Cristina Fernández, Argentina's president, yesterday made a second surprise U-turn in less than a month by announcing a willingness to make a fresh offer to holders of bonds on which the country defaulted in 2001 - a move she had previously refused to countenance.

In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Ms Fernández said three international investment banks had presented a proposal for the "holdouts" who rejected a debt swap offer in 2005 and claim $29bn (€19.6bn, £15.6bn) including interest.