Deputy Secretary Sherman: As you know, there is a program between Argentina and the IMF and whatever Argentina and the IMF negotiate, the US supports. Deputy Secretary Sherman: US has a very clear policy when it comes to the People’s Republic of China and Secretary Blinken gave a speech last May that laid out that policy. Deputy Secretary Sherman: I think there are ongoing discussions between the US and Argentina about jets and I think they are headed in a very positive direction. Deputy Secretary Sherman: In my coming here I try to meet with a whole range of people. Deputy Secretary Sherman: As you pointed out, president Lula has met with President Biden before he went to Beijing to meet with Xi-Jinping.

March’s inflation rate, which was 7.7% according to the National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC), was “extremely high,” according to a communiqué released by Economic Planning Secretary Gabriel Rubinstein. “That way, we hope for a decrease of a certain magnitude in the general index,” Rubinstein wrote, referring to April’s inflation rate. “We will keep trying to lower inflation, combining fiscal and monetary policies that keep being consistent with significantly lower inflation rates,” Rubinstein said. “We will combine that with income policies (agreements with companies and othes) that help to curb the inertial aspects of high inflation rates.”Trade Secretary Matías Tombolini also chimed in. Tombolini also announced a new price agreement with exporting companies which will facilitate their access to dollars at the official rate.

In 1985, the Buenos Aires Federal Chamber of Appeals prosecuted the leaders of the three military juntas that ruled the country between 1976 and 1983 unleashing state terrorism on the population. It came to be known as the ‘Trial of the Juntas’. Based on the real-life court testimonies of the landmark trial, the film premiered in Berlinale’s Forum section earlier this year. “We created our own dramatic structure freely, without following the chronology of the trial,” said De la Orden to the Buenos Aires Herald. “The film is also a starting point,” De la Orden told the Herald.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva departed Brazil on Tuesday for an official visit to China, where he aims to convince President Xi Jinping to form a group of nations to mediate an end to Russia’s war with Ukraine. “I am convinced that both Ukraine and Russia are waiting for someone else to say, ‘Let’s sit down and talk,'” Lula told journalists last week. Lula has suggested a peace solution could be the return of newly invaded territory, though not Crimea – an option that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected outright. For his initiative to advance, Lula needs China to send a message to Russia, said a European diplomat in Brasilia. Some 20 agreements to be signed include creation of a sixth satellite in a joint program started in 1988, which will be used for monitoring the Amazon, Brazil’s foreign ministry said.

Argentina’s National Securities Commission has modified the term that investors must keep Argentine sovereign bonds in their portfolio. Since they are traded in pesos and dollars, sovereign bond operations are one of the few ways to freely access the dollar in Argentina today. Until yesterday, the holding period for sovereign bonds was two days for securities issued under both Argentine and foreign law. Argentine sovereign bonds under Argentine law: one day of parkingArgentine sovereign bonds under foreign law: three parking daysArgentine sovereign bonds are used to access the U.S. dollar. The blue-chip swap rate is important because of the brecha – the exchange “gap” with the official dollar exchange rate.

Looking ahead, government projections estimate that an extra US$4 billion from regional economies will be liquidated from now until August (regional economies in Argentina include producers of traditional products such as yerba mate, wines, citrus, rice, tea, and wood.) “Generally speaking, more than US$5 billion could come in, as indicated by companies in the sector. “The question remains about what will happen after May 24, because if we take into consideration what happened with the two previous versions of the soybean dollar rate, soybean sales contracted monumentally after the differential exchange rate ended, which resulted in a smaller income of dollars. This is why the scope of the measure regarding regional economies is still being defined. In any case, all the exporting sectors of regional economies approve of this measure, which may speed up exports and also boost the Central Bank’s reserves.

Around 600,000 workers will receive up to 16% more take-home pay after Economy Minister Sergio Massa and the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) trade union federation agreed that some kinds of pay would no longer count towards the income tax threshold. The agreement means that formally employed workers in a variety of professions will no longer have to pay the tax because they will fall below the threshold. Economy Ministry sources did not respond to requests from the Herald to confirm the details. In Argentina, the threshold for paying income tax is AR$ 404,062 per month. At present, an estimated 12% of workers pay it.

At least 14 people have died from dengue fever in Argentina this year, the Health Ministry reported on Friday. There have been 28,235 confirmed cases of the disease in 13 provinces and Buenos Aires City since the start of 2023. The disease is circulating in Buenos Aires province, Buenos Aires City, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Formosa, Chaco, Catamarca, Jujuy, La Rioja, Salta, Santiago del Estero, and Tucumán. Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires province follow suit, with 3,313 and 2,381 cases respectively. The deaths were registered in Salta (4), Santa Fe (4), Tucumán (3), Buenos Aires province (1), Santiago del Estero (1), and Jujuy (1).

The Buenos Aires Provincial Police is searching male bus passengers across the province after bus driver Daniel Barrientos, 65, was murdered on Monday at dawn while working. They then frisk them, demand ID, and search their backpacks, news footage and videos taken by neighbors show. Barrientos, a 620 line driver, was shot dead while driving his bus in the neighborhood of Vernazza in Virrey del Pino, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires City. Barrientos’ assassination sparked rage among colleagues, who went out onto the streets to protest insecurity. During one of the operations, a bus driver told C5N news channel that the place where the operations were being carried out was not appropriate.

Chile on Thursday signed new laws and allocated US$1.5 billion to fight crime amid skyrocketing perceptions of insecurity and a day after the third police officer in less than a month was killed on duty. The measures include criminalizing extortion as well as increased penalties for kidnapping and some instances of firearm possession. Chile’s police force has faced human rights abuse accusations following a heavy-handed crackdown of the violent 2019 protests against inequality. Polls show voters largely disapprove of the government’s handling of crime and Boric has since hardened his stance. Palma is the third police officer to be killed on duty in less than a month, sparking public backlash.

The bus drivers’ union (UTA) lifted a strike after two of their colleagues were released today. They had been detained and continue under investigation for their alleged involvement in Monday’s violent attack on Buenos Aires province’s security minister, Sergio Berni. Bus drivers Jorge Oscar Galiano and Jorge Ezequiel Zerda were detained and their company offices raided on Thursday morning. Previously, Buenos Aires Province’s Justice and Human Rights minister, Julio Alak, also filed a lawsuit against them. “They tell me it was a joint operation between Buenos Aires City and Buenos Aires Province’s police departments.

Bus drivers from eight lines in the outskirts of Buenos Aires have organized a spontaneous strike after two of their colleagues were arrested late on Wednesday night over their alleged involvement in Monday’s violent attack on provincial security minister Sergio Berni. “The strike will go on until our colleagues are released and the murderers of our colleague Daniel are identified,” Luis Gómez, a line 620 driver taking part in the strike, told Télam. Although Berni did not press charges against the drivers, Buenos Aires Province’s Justice and Human Rights minister, Julio Alak, filed a lawsuit against them. Their detention was ordered by Buenos Aires City Judge Luisa María Escrich. Sergio Berni, of ruling coalition Frente de Todos, was appointed Buenos Aires Province Security Minister in 2019, when Axel Kicillof became governor of the province.

Yesterday afternoon Economy Minister Sergio Massa announced a new “agro dollar” exchange rate, which aims to boost agricultural exports and strengthen international reserve accumulation. “The new exchange rate will allow producers to have more income and open to new markets,” said the Chubut governor Mariano Arcioni. The Argentina Wine Corporation (COVIAR) also supported the announcement and stated through a release that “all wine producers benefited from the differential exchange rate”. For a limited time, agricultural producers can export soybeans, other soy products, and regional agricultural produce at a beneficial exchange rate of AR$300 to the dollar. The official exchange rate is currently AR$214 to the dollar.

Argentina will appeal the London High Court’s unfavorable ruling related to GDP-linked securities — if unsuccessful, the country faces a 1.33 billion-euro (US$1.46 billion) plus interest fine. Two sources with access to the case who asked not to be identified told the Herald that Argentina has to ask Judge Simon Picken, who issued today’s ruling, for permission to appeal. In the event that both the judge and the Chamber reject Argentina’s appeal requests, Argentina will have to pay US$1.46 billion, plus interest. During the restructuring negotiation process in 2005, Argentina offered new securities with a haircut of about 70% of the principal. In 2014, Argentina changed the formula to calculate its GDP using data from a 2004 census.

Minimum wage increases approved by the Minimum Vital and Mobile Salary Council last week were published in the Official Bulletin today. Paid in three monthly increases, the minimum salary will rise by 26.6% by June 1 compared with current levels, but economists say it is falling far behind Argentina’s racing inflation, which hit 102.5% in February. On April 1, the minimum wage will rise to AR$80,342 (US$386.59 at the official exchange rate or US$213.45 at the MEP rate) and AR$401.71 per hour for day laborers. He added that the minimum wage had shrunk in proportion to the basic basket of goods compared with 2015. The payments for social programs such as Potenciar Trabajo are a percentage of the minimum wage, so increasing the minimum wage leads to increased state spending.