PARIS (Reuters)- - The Paris Club of major creditor nations said on Monday it had received a first payment of Argentina's debt arrears as promised under an agreement struck in May.
"It was received as scheduled," Paris Club Secretary General Clotilde L'Angevin told Reuters.
Argentina said on July 29 it had made a $642 million (381 million pounds) first payment to settle its debt to the Paris Club of 19 highly industrialised countries.
Days later, Argentina defaulted on its debt for the second time in 12 years after hopes for a midnight deal with hedge funds that had rejected Argentina's debt restructuring were dashed.
Argentina's next payment of $500 million to the Paris Club is due by May 2015.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Writing by Andrew Callus; Editing by Ingrid Melander)