International Monetary Fund (IMF) Director of Communications Julie Kozack confirmed in a brief statement Monday that the lender’s executive board will meet on August 23 to confirm a disbursement for Argentina. This agreement is subject to the approval by the IMF Executive Board, which is expected to meet on August 23 to unlock the agreed disbursements.”“We welcome the authorities’ recent policy actions and commitment going forward to safeguard stability, rebuild reserves and enhance fiscal order.”The July staff-level agreement granted the country access to a US$7.5 billion disbursement. However, the disbursement is subject to approval by the IMF executive board, and Argentina must continue to implement the policies it agreed on with the lender. The government and the IMF signed an Extended Fund Facility agreement in 2022 after renegotiating the US$44 billion debt former President Mauricio Macri acquired in 2018. The deal includes an economic program that Argentina must comply with in order to receive disbursements every three months, which are used to pay for the previous debt with the IMF.

Grandmother of Plaza de Mayo Blanca Díaz de Garnier died Sunday in the city of Concepción del Uruguay, Entre Ríos. After a 40 year-search, Díaz de Garnier was reunited with her granddaughter, Adriana Garnier Ortolani, in December 2017. Díaz de Garnier’s son, Edgardo Garnier, was kidnapped in February 1977, and has never been found. It was during this ordeal that they met other Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. “Somebody told me my parents weren’t my real parents,” Adriana said in a TV spot for the Grandmothers.

Argentines began voting at 8 a.m. this Sunday in the national primaries known as PASO (Spanish for Open, Simultaneous and Mandatory Primaries). In addition to presidential and vice-presidential candidates, the PASO will also determine national deputy and senator candidates for every coalition. Buenos Aires, Catamarca, Entre Ríos, and Santa Cruz provinces also have primaries for governor, provincial legislators and other local authorities, while Buenos Aires city will hold primaries for mayor and city legislators. In addition to selecting mayoral coalition candidates, the local vote includes 30 legislators. The Buenos Aires Ecobici bicycle hire system, which is free Monday through Friday, is also free on Sunday.

The Economy Ministry announced on Saturday a series of measures to be implemented in the week after the primaries, including the drafting of a zero deficit budget for 2024. The ministry said this would be achieved mainly by cutting tax exemptions for large companies. It will present a budget bill in Congress next September 15 with an addendum attached detailing the cost of said exemptions, something that was already included in the 2023 budget. This proposal means lowering the deficit at a higher speed than what Argentina’s current economic program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stipulates, as the roadmap sanctioned in 2022 calls for a 0.9% deficit for the next year. The Ministry announced additional measures, such as a new simplified tax regime for freelancers who work for companies abroad and are paid in US dollars (“monotributo tech”), a financing program for corn and wheat farmers, tax exemptions for importers that pay with their own US dollars, and a call for bids to launch the so-called tranche reversal of the North Gas Pipeline, among others.

The Economy Minister obtained AR$821.5 billion in the first peso bond auction of August, and close to AR$5.1 billion during the second round of bidding the following day. The operation allowed the government to meet its AR$725 million payment maturity, while also obtaining $96.51 million in additional financing. — Eduardo Setti (@EduardoSettiOk) August 10, 2023There were eight bonds offered, including a fixed-rate Lede (S31O3) and an inflation-adjusted bond (X23N3), maturing on October 31 and November 23 respectively. The tender also included a new inflation-adjusted bond maturing on January 18, 2024 (X18E4) and two other new inflation-adjustable bonds maturing on May 20 and August 19, 2024, respectively. The operation also included the reopening of three inflation-adjusted bonds: T2X4, T4X4, and T5X4, maturing on July 26, October 14, and December 13, respectively.

Trelew judge Gustavo Lleral has acquitted all four military police officers who were under investigation over the August 2017 disappearance and death of activist and craftsman Santiago Maldonado. Maldonado went missing on August 1, 2017, after a group of gendarmes (military police) broke up a roadblock by the Indigenous Pu Lof Mapuche community in Cushamen, and then pursued the protesters. Maldonado was found dead 77 days later, on October 17, 2017, floating in the Chubut river, within the limits of the Mapuche lands. Sergio Maldonado, Santiago’s brother, said on Twitter that “the impunity pact for Patricia Bullrich and the national Gendarmía has been confirmed” with the ruling. “He claimed that Santiago drowned by himself,” Sergio wrote.

The Human Rights Secretariat is a plaintiff in the trial, which is being held online and streamed on the San Martin Court’s YouTube channel. A member of the Group of the Eight — Peronist congressmen who cut ties with general Perón in 1974 — Muñiz Barreto was kidnapped alongside Fernández on February 16, 1977. Muñiz Barreto died at the scene, but Fernández was able to get out of the vehicle and escape. In 2008, a federal court formally requested that Congress impeach him, after which he was arrested for crimes against humanity. Since then, he has been convicted in three different trials for severe violations of human rights during State terrorism, and received life sentences in all cases.

Lionel Messi is flying high with Inter Miami and now he’s after a spot in the Leagues Cup semifinals. Against FC Dallas, the team co-owned by David Beckham hit its first rough patch since Messi’s arrival. Like all Leagues Cup matches, the clash will be shown by streaming service Apple TV, which has recently experienced a massive surge in subscribers. MLS Season Pass subscribers on Apple TV have doubled since Messi joined Inter Miami,” team co-owner Jorge Mas tweeted Thursday. Inter Miami and Charlotte FC will face off for a spot in Leagues Cup semifinals this Friday, August 11, at the DRV PNK Stadium in Florida.

Argentines and the US dollar have a very special relationship and have come to know what to expect from each other. Within this scenario that Argentines are so used to, however, a lingering question remains: why exactly does this happen? “The ‘blue’ or parallel exchange rate is a true reflection of the market’s uncertainty regarding the economy,” Juan Ignacio Paolicchi, chief economist at Empiria Consultores, told the Herald. Informal exchange houses — cuevas, Spanish for caves— and street “blue” dollar sellers — arbolitos, Spanish for “little trees” — are a persistent part of Buenos Aires City’s landscape. This anxiety can also be seen in the rise of the implied interest rates for August and September future dollar contracts.

Amazon rainforest nations emerged from a summit this week with a stronger hand to play at upcoming United Nations climate talks, despite the meeting’s lackluster final agreement, according to environmental groups. “So (developed nations) now need to pay their part to restore a part of what they destroyed.”Lula will take that message on the road this year at the G20, United Nations General Assembly and U.N. COP28 climate summit. Lula in particular left the summit as a stronger voice for this bloc, Astrini said. Stronger voiceRainforest nations have a stronger unified voice after the meeting, at least on paper, said Luis Roman, a representative of nonprofit WWF Peru. They also called for rich nations to meet a pledge to provide $200 billion per year in biodiversity conservation funding by 2030.

This Sunday, Argentines will head to the ballot boxes to choose each coalition’s candidates for this year’s presidential elections in primary elections known as the PASO. Primaries: The presidential candidate of each coalition is being chosen. The Fernández-Fernández ticket came out 16 percentage points ahead of the Macri-Pichetto ticket — so it was clear who was likely to win the presidential elections. To learn more about who’s running, see: Argentina 2023 elections: these are the candidatesWhy do Argentina’s primaries work this way? For example people may vote strategically or change their minds before the presidential vote.

An 11-year-old girl has died after thieves on a motorbike stole her belongings as she walked to school in the southern Buenos Aires suburb of Lanús. Morena Domínguez, 11, was approaching the gates of her school in the Villa Diamante neighborhood when thieves passing on a motorcycle hit her and grabbed her backpack shortly before 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday. “She was like my sister,” her friend Priscila told the press through tears at the school gate. “More was my son’s playmate,” said the mother of a pupil at the school. “Today, he watched as they performed CPR on her, that’s extremely painful […] It could be your own child.”–With information from Télam

On Sunday, millions of Argentinians will head to the polls to vote in their primary elections, better known as PASO. This means that a veda electoral (electoral ban) will be in effect for a period of 36 hours, until voting stations close at 6 p.m. that evening. These restrictions may seem moralistic to the uninitiated, but the veda isn’t limited to wine and spirits. This weekend, all sporting events, theatrical productions, and open-air shows will be suspended, along with any other public gatherings unrelated to the elections. News outlets cannot publish or disseminate electoral polls and projections about the results of the elections before their completion.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday hopes to forge a united front among rainforest nations when they engage in international climate negotiations, building on an accord a day earlier at a summit of Amazon nations. The leftist leader aims to bring a similar message to this year’s United Nations climate summit, known as COP28, backed by a strengthened coalition. The first day of the Amazon Summit resulted in a broad agreement for the region to cooperate on areas like combating organized crime and scientific research. At last year’s climate summit, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia agreed to form an alliance to pressure rich countries to pay for conservation. Norway and Germany, major contributors to Amazon conservation in Brazil, will participate as well as France, technically a rainforest nation because of its overseas territory of French Guiana.

The INDEC will publish July’s monthly inflation on August 15, which analysts forecast will be higher than June’s. For instance, raises in meat prices is one that stands out. This can be seen in the first week of August and will have an impact on monthly inflation. It’s still difficult to make a projection, but the increase in meat prices will be a key factor in August inflation”, Montano explained. Based on what they observed in the first week of the month, consulting firm Eco Go also projects a higher food inflation for August.