President Alberto Fernández will meet with Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholtz on Saturday, January 28, at the Foreign Ministry’s San Martín Palace in Buenos Aires, together with Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero. Scholtz’s first official visit to Argentina is part of a regional tour that will continue in Brazil and Chile, and aims to expand bilateral trade, investment and project financing, according to a release from the Office of the President. on Saturday, where he will be welcomed by Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero and a delegation of officials, businessmen and journalists. Afterwards, at 6:45p.m., they are scheduled to make a traditional floral offering at the monument to the Liberator General Don José de San Martín, in the Square of the same name in Buenos Aires. Bilateral trade between the two countries topped the US$3.6 billion mark in 2022, an 8% growth from the previous year.

Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero and United States Ambassador Marc Stanley celebrated today the 200th anniversary of bilateral relations between Argentina and the US in the Palacio San Martín in Buenos Aires. As part of the celebrations, Cafiero and Stanley placed a wreath on José de San Martín’s bust and then kept a protocol meeting. The formal relationship between Argentina and the US began on January 27, 1823, when the North American country officially recognized the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. In the same vein, Stanley said that “Argentina and the US have a great opportunity to help feeding and supplying fuel to the world”. Klaine also congratulated Argentina on its three World Cup victories, calling the team “champions” and saying they had inspired “generations of athletes”.

Argentina on Wednesday launched the first working group of a new national agency to regulate and promote the country’s nascent cannabis industry, which ministers hope will create new jobs and exports, generating fresh income for the nation. “This opens the door for Argentina to start a new path in terms of industrial exports, on the basis of huge global demand,” said Economy Minister Sergio Massa in a conference launching the national hemp and cannabis agency, ARICCAME. Francisco Echarren, who will lead the agency, said the industry could generate thousands of new jobs, as well as creating technological developments and new products for export. In addition to regulating and promoting the cannabis industry, the Cannabis National Agency will also import, export, cultivate, produce, manufacture, and market seeds and cannabis for health and industrial purposes. The decree also allowed pharmacies to sell products derived from cannabis, and ordered insurers to cover marijuana-based medications for patients with a prescription.

At least 67 journalists and media workers were killed in 2022, the most since 2018, according to a report by press freedom nonprofit, the Committee to Protect Journalists. Out of that total, which represented an increase of nearly 50% compared with 2021, 30 were killed in Latin America. As a result, the report deemed the region as “the deadliest” for journalists in 2022. In at least three cases, journalists were killed for reporting on crime and politics, and had received threats prior to their deaths. Apart from the seven killings registered in Haiti, CPJ also documented work-related killings of four journalists in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.

President Alberto Fernández met with U.S. President Joe Biden’s Special Advisor for the Americas, Christopher Dodd, to discuss bilateral and regional co-operation following the CELAC summit in Buenos Aires on Wednesday noon. Although the US and Canada are not members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), Joe Biden sent Dodd as an envoy to meet with some of the region’s leaders, attending as an observer. Christopher Dodd, Asesor Especial del presidente Biden para las Américas, se reunió con el presidente Alberto Fernández para conversar sobre el fortalecimiento de la cooperación bilateral y regional. The pair discussed the scope for growth in areas such as lithium, electric cars, fossil fuels, innovation, agribusiness, and renewable energy. 🇦🇷🇺🇸Me reuní con el Asesor Especial del presidente Biden para las Américas Christopher Dodd y el embajador Marc Stanley, con quienes trabajamos en la promoción de políticas de cooperación económica para fomentar el desarrollo económico y potenciar nuestras relaciones bilaterales.

The Economy Ministry obtained funds for AR$416 billion in the first bond auction of the year, more than it needed to cover its AR$352.32 billion maturities. The auction took place the day Minister Sergio Massa announced the buyback of US$1 billion of sovereign debt. “Offers were received for a total nominal value of AR$690 billion, allocating an effective value of almost AR$420 billion. It is the first time since September that the Ministry has offered a bond that will mature after the presidential election – a dollar-linked bond that matures at the end of October 2023. Seven types of bonds were offered in total, with maturities between April 28, 2023 and October 31, 2023.

The Economy Ministry, led by Sergio Massa, issued fines of more than US$1 billion in just one semester for maneuvers in foreign trade, both for over-invoicing and under-invoicing of exports. According to a Customs report, fines in foreign trade operations increased six-fold, comparing the first and second semesters of 2022. In the last months of 2022, the audited amount rose to US$4.75 billion, with fines issued for US$1.02 billion –667% more than the previous semester’s US$133 million in fines. “These maneuvers aim to establish financial assets abroad (in foreign currency), leveraging on the exchange rate gap,” said sources from Customs. There have been 3,146 precautionary measures issued in the last two years linked to the previous imports system –called SIMI– for a total amount of US$2.52 billion.

The Argentine Football Association’s president appeared to confirm today that Lionel Scaloni has committed to continue as head coach of the Argentine team. In an interview with radio La Red, Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia said he and Scaloni are “committed to keep on going together”, and that they will sign a contract once the coach comes to Argentina. “That’s going very well,” Tapia said about Lionel ‘Gringo’ Scaloni’s continuity when asked the question “the whole country is asking”. While Scaloni’s contract is not yet signed, Tapia was confident the head coach will remain in post leading the Argentine team. When asked to what degree was Scaloni’s continuity a sure thing, from 1 to 10, he laughed and said: “we always carry the number 10 on us”.

The government is monitoring imports through meetings of the SIRA system committee and conversations with business chambers. The economic team’s next step is “speeding up” the companies’ ability to use “their own dollars” and monitoring commercial debt, which is currently over US$7 billion. In the Economy Ministry, led by Sergio Massa, sources recognize that there may be problems, since the new SIRA system is less than three months old, and there is also a shortage of dollars in the Central Bank. The SIRA system allows them to see a daily calendar with the amounts to be paid according to the imports approved. This could have an “impact on production”: according to the UIA, seven out of ten companies stated that difficulties in supply of inputs could lead to stoppages in some production lines.

An agreement between the Economy Ministry and transport union Camioneros sparked controversy after the Union took part in the auditing of Fair Prices, the government’s commercial agreement underpinning current price caps. Last November, the “Precios Justos” (Fair Prices) program froze the value of 1,907 products and set a maximum monthly price rise of 4% for 30,000 other items until February 28, 2023. Fuels were later added to the program and are subject to the 4% price increase limit. To ensure the agreements are complied with, Interior Commerce Secretary Matías Tombolini announced that he had reached a deal with the truckers’ union, Camioneros, to help verify that products under the program were stocked in supermarkets. Lately, the organization has also built ties with unions close to Kirchnerism, such as bank workers, with whom they converge in the Worker’s Corriente Federal within the Central Workers’ Union (CGT).

Major fuel retailers increased gasoline prices by 4% on Sunday and Monday. The increases were part of last November’s Fair Prices agreement between the government and oil companies, which allows companies to increase their prices by up to 4% between November and March. According to surtidores.com, a liter of premium gasoline is at AR$197.40, while diesel is at AR$168.5 a liter. A liter of unleaded gasoline costs AR$156.80. Compared with January 2022, the rises are around 95%, in line with the yearly inflation rate.

The board of the Central Bank will not adjust interest rates following statistics institute INDEC’s announcement yesterday that inflation was 5.1% for December, just 0.2% over the previous month figure. Since September 15, the Central Bank has kept the annual nominal interest rate at 75% and a 107.5% yearly effective rate. The effective monthly rate is 6.16%. In the government’s view, this would also deter flight to the US dollar and relieve pressure on the exchange rate. The monetary authority will keep using the interest rate to that end.

Labor Minister Raquel “Kelly” Olmos confirmed this after a series of conversations between government officials and top leaders of the CGT (General Workers’ Union). The first allies for this plan are the “heavyweights” of the CGT’s biggest service industry unions and their “independent” colleagues who maintain constructive dialogue with all governments. Both sectors, which include Héctor Daer (Healthcare) and Andrés Rodriguez (state workers in the UPCN union) among others, are the main union support for Massa and his potential presidential goal. Along the same line as Moyano, last night Gerardo Matínez, head of the Construction Workers’ Union (UOCRA), also raised concerns. CGT leaders, in any case, recognize that there is a consensus around, at a minimum, showing support for Massa’s plan.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US consumer prices fell for the first time in more than two and a half years in December amid declining prices for gasoline and motor vehicles, offering hope that inflation was now on a sustained downward trend, though the labor market remains tight. Cooling inflation could allow the Federal Reserve to further scale back the pace of its interest rate increases next month. Food prices climbed 0.3%, the smallest gain in nearly two years, after rising 0.5% in the prior month. Fruit and vegetable prices fell as did those for dairy products, but meat, poultry and fish cost more. Core goods prices slipped 0.3%, declining for a third straight month.

The latest projections from the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange anticipate that exports from the main grain complexes could fall by between US$9.2 billion and US$14.1 billion. In terms of tax collection, the State would lose out on between US$3.1 billion and US$4.7 billion. That is why the moderate scenario suggests that income from exports would fall by US$9.2 billion at a minimum and US$14.1 billion at most. The second one is a pessimistic scenario (a more pronounced drought), with 35.5 million, 37.8 million and 3.5 million tons. Regarding the baseline scenario, their contribution would drop between US$3.3 billion and US$6.3 billion, depending on the final scenario.