The Economy Ministry secured AR$227.13 billion in its bond auction today in the first round of April, where it faced maturities of AR$189.4 billion. “This is the auction with the third-highest number of bids so far this year,” Finance Secretary Eduardo Setti tweeted today. — Eduardo Setti (@EduardoSettiOk) April 19, 2023“Thus, the rollover of the private sector was 123%, while that of the public sector was 105%,” Setti said. “Of the total cash value awarded, 85% was from the private sector, while the remaining 15% was from the public sector. The IMF had also discouraged “overly onerous interest rates” — one of the bonds had a 130% annual interest rate.

A massive utopian project to move the Argentine capital to Patagonia in the 1980s. The Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival (Bafici), which kicks off today, offers more than 250 films from all over the world. BAFICI Section: Noches especiales (Special Nights)In 1986, President Raúl Alfonsín attempted to move the Argentine capital to the small city of Viedma, in Río Negro province, the heart of deserted Patagonia. But the one feature that would be imprinted in Argentine history ended up being the idea of transforming Viedma into the nation’s capital, a brand new city like an Argentine Brasilia. A champion of Argentine film preservation and promotion, his love for cinema is as contagious as his motto: Alegría sin fin!

If converted to the blue-chip swap rate, Argentina would need an extra US$11.7 billion to “rescue” its monetary base. However, that doesn’t include liquidity bills — to buy back all of the Central Bank’s liabilities, Argentina would need US$43 billion. “If we assume that there is not going to be an extraordinary loan, then an ‘orderly’ dollarization is not possible,” the 1816 report said. “This would deepen the fall in income generated by the dollarization itself,” the report read. The alternative to dollarization is to implement a public policy agenda to strengthen the national currency.

Lithium is no longer a promise of the future and the government is starting to record actual data: exports hit record numbers in the first quarter of 2023 with a 133% year-on-year increase. Lithium exports have broken a new record: they added up to US$91 million in March, so the first quarter had an overall foreign sales total of US$233 million (a 133% increase). Hence, lithium dollars already account for a third of the country’s mining activity (27%), according to data from the Secretariat of Mining. Industrializing lithiumThe Lithium Board, formed by governors, the Executive Branch, and the Economy Ministry, has agreed on a legal framework to promote industrialization. The Economy Ministry views this bill more favorably, which will establish a set of promotion measures and will likely make it to Congress this year.

Thousands of passengers across Buenos Aires are affected by strikes this week as bus companies demand the government update subsidies for them. Subway lines also stopped circulating last night as workers demanded their working hours be reduced because of fears about asbestos in the underground network. However, sources in the Transport Ministry told Télam that the payments were made last week. Last night, subway lines B and C were down because workers were on strike, continuing industrial action they carried out last week. Workers are demanding that their working hours be reduced due to the presence of asbestos – a carcinogenic mineral – in the lines.

“Trials against humanity in real time,” a website that followed the hearings of each trial in real-time, was launched as a tool in 2021. Now the Crimes Against Humanity website adds information on each case, including all of those who have already received sentences, and those that remain open. The new website includes information that civilians can use to follow up on each of the processes. “The website puts the consequences of delays in concrete numbers,” Human Rights Secretary Horacio Pietragalla told the Herald. The website uses databases from the Human Rights Secretariat and the National Public Prosecutor’s Office as well as other prosecuting authorities.

Argentina will host the next U-20 World Cup, the country announced today. The U-20 World Cup is for national men’s football teams for players under the age of 20. FIFA will allow Argentina’s U-20 men’s team to participate as the host country, despite the fact that it failed to qualify during the South American U20 tournament. Massa and Tapia held a ceremony at the Economy Ministry alongside the AFA board of directors and Tourism and Sport Minister Matías Lammens. Ahead of the midday announcement, the government had published a decree today authorizing resources for the application to host the tournament.

In both provinces, local ruling parties Neuquen Popular Movement (MPN) and Together We Are Río Negro (JSRN) expect to hold power. In the first case, the Peronist candidate endorsed by Justice Minister Martín Soria will be Silvia Horne, while Cambia Río Negro is running with PRO leader Aníbal Tortoriello. Río NegroMeanwhile, in Río Negro the JSRN is expected to retain the governor office. There are 589.251 people eligible to vote in Río Negro. Together with governor and vice governor, people will vote for the 46 seats of the State Legislature, the mayors of 22 districts and authorities of 34 towns.

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.