UPDATE 1-Argentina says no proposal to OECD on Paris Club
(Recasts with Economy Ministry saying no proposal made)
BUENOS AIRES, May 31 (Reuters) - Argentina's Economy Ministry contradicted a high-level official's comments that the country was seeking oversight from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, rather than the IMF, to renegotiate its $6.3 billion Paris Club debt.
The spokesman for Economy Minister Felisa Miceli told Reuters: "The Argentine government has not presented any proposal regarding this issue."
Three local newspapers reported on Thursday that Argentina's secretary for economic policy, Oscar Tangelson, said the government had discussed this possibility at an OECD meeting in Paris last week.
"It appears that there are good conditions for this to come about," Tangelson was quoted as saying by leading daily newspaper La Nacion.
The OECD groups 30 countries committed to democracy and the market economy. Part of its mission is to promote stable economic rules via multilateral agreements.
President Nestor Kirchner has said "no way in hell" will the South American country agree to an International Monetary Fund accord as a precondition for restructuring its defaulted debt with the group of wealthy creditor nations.
A fierce IMF critic, Kirchner blames the fund's policies in part for Argentina's economic crisis five years ago, when the country defaulted on some $100 billion in sovereign debt and devalued its peso currency.
The country's debt to the Paris Club is a remnant of that financial meltdown.
Some club members have suggested Argentina should use its record foreign reserves, which have surpassed $40 billion, to repay the debt. But the government rejects this idea.
Argentina tapped its reserves to pay off its entire IMF debt of some $9.5 billion early last year, freeing itself from the lender's regular reviews of economic policy. (Additional reporting by Cesar Illiano)
