First debt swap of 2023 ends with 67% adherence
The Economy Ministry refinanced its maturities for the first three months of 2023 from AR$4.3 trillion to AR$1.41 trillion in what it considered a “successful” debt swap. The swap, which was offered on December 29 and due Tuesday, had an adherence of 67.2%. The Treasury had to face maturities for AR$1.1 trillion in January, AR$1.2 trillion in February and AR$2 billion in March. After the swap, the maturity prospect is AR$390 billion, AR$420 billion and AR$60 billion, respectively. One day before the due date, the Economy Ministry added another option: the LECER bond X16J3, an inflation-adjusted bond that matures in June 2023.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
January 05, 2023 15:17 UTC
Exports: the factors that explain 2022 record numbers and predict more progress in 2023
Once official statistics are released, they will confirm that 2022 ended with record exports, which exceeded US$100 billion. Agriculture, industry, energy, the knowledge economy and mining were key drivers that could continue to improve their performance in 2023. The agro-industrial sector saw record prices for all the exports of the soybean, corn and wheat complex. Facing 2023, Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero launched the National Export Promotion Plan. Government estimates anticipate a new export record that would be around US$105 billion despite the effects of the drought.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
January 05, 2023 12:59 UTC
Social leaders meet with Social Development to halt welfare cuts
This week, Minister of Social Development Victoria Tolosa Paz met with leftist social movement coalition Unidad Piquetera (UP) and the Social Economy Workers’ Union (UTEP), which brings together pro-government social organizations, to negotiate welfare payments. Their measures included camping outside the Social Development Ministry on 9 de Julio Avenue, in the center of Buenos Aires. Unidad Piquetera, which sits further to the left politically than UTEP and has a more conflictive relationship with the government, met with Victoria Tolosa Paz on Wednesday but reached an impasse. The organization says it will wait for the Ministry to meet its commitments, including delivering food, making payments on time, and restoring Potenciar Trabajo social plans. UP leaders said that, as they did a month ago, their organizations would continue to protest if Tolosa Paz did not keep her promises.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 29, 2022 20:56 UTC
Argentine football in limbo over Scaloni contract extension
Argentina’s national team coach Lionel Scaloni is fresh from a resounding success in the World Cup that brought joy to a country buffeted by skyrocketing inflation and institutional fragility. Tapia has acknowledged that much of the Argentine football world was deeply uncertain of his decision to name Scaloni as the head coach of the national side. Now, it appears that the World Cup triumph, coming as it did after Argentina’s 2021 Copa América victory and a 36-game winning streak, has forced Tapia’s hand. Countering this tepid response, Tapia, said in a news conference last Monday: “I have no doubt that [Scaloni] will continue to be the manager of the national team. As the end of his contract approaches, Argentine football is waiting for the most important statement of all: that of Scaloni himself.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 29, 2022 20:05 UTC
Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo identify 132nd stolen grandchild
In 2008, the National Genetic Data Bank confirmed he was the son of Mercedes del Valle Morales, a 21-year-old farm worker in Tucumán. Mercedes was a militant in the PRT-ERP guerrilla, and was kidnapped in May 1976, when Juan José was a 9-month-old baby. Juan José was raised by the owners of the farm where she worked, as a child of their own. “The mother, Mercedes, worked for the people who appropriated Juan José,” he said. The Grandmothers work with the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and the National Bank of Genetic Data (BNDG, its Spanish acronym), which use DNA analysis to identify the children.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 29, 2022 01:32 UTC
Why the informal dollar broke records this week
The informal or “blue” dollar has skyrocketed to a record-breaking AR$359, its highest nominal value ever recorded. The Economy Ministry believes the leap is being driven by demand from small savers buying greenbacks in preparation for the upcoming tax amnesty, as well as seasonal demand. Moreover, this week’s hike wasn’t caused by a political or an economical crisis, but rather seasonal fluctuations and the upcoming tax agreement with the US. To further illustrate this point, the sources add that the informal dollar also rose during August’s “construction amnesty law”, which created a framework to encourage tax evaders to invest in housing. For now, this variation is only reflected in the informal dollar, not the financial exchange rates.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 28, 2022 23:30 UTC
“Sur”: the project for a common currency between Argentina and Brazil
Negotiations are moving forward with the main trading partner to create a common currency without eliminating the peso or the real. Bilateral meetings will be held on January 25 to “oil” the mechanism. The main focus was the creation of a common currency. The concept is different from a single currency because it does not include abolishing either country’s national currency. The future president of Brazil is expected to participate and even communicate his decision to reintegrate Brazil into the bloc currently chaired by Alberto Fernández.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 27, 2022 22:43 UTC
Government extends price agreement program until December 2023
The Economy Ministry established this Monday that the commercial agreement underpinning current price caps will remain in force until December 2023. The “Precios Justos” (Fair Prices) program, which was implemented in November, 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. This month, fuels were added to the program, and will be subject to the 4% monthly price increase limit. Economy Minister Sergio Massa said the government hoped that monthly inflation would be around 3% by April, adding that he was “still not satisfied”. That would likely mean renegotiating the maximum monthly price increases, currently set at 4%, to ensure they remained below inflation.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 27, 2022 21:23 UTC
Tax share battle: BA City government rejects Fernández bond offer
President Alberto Fernández said on Monday that the national government would pay federal tax revenues to Buenos Aires city government in the form of bonds. However, Buenos Aires city government said in a statement on Monday afternoon that it would not accept the proposal. Fernández reiterated that he believed the Supreme Court ruling from last week was “flawed” and damaged the state’s finances. The city government of Buenos Aires appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which determines judicial and political decisions’ constitutionality. Buenos Aires’ Juntos por el Cambio administration celebrated, and Horacio Rodriguez Larreta announced he would cut taxes as a result of the measure.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 27, 2022 06:31 UTC
IACHR visits Peru as dozens die in protests over Castillo impeachment
Castillo had attempted to dissolve Peru’s congress and rule the country by decree just hours before a scheduled impeachment vote on corruption charges, a move widely regarded as a self-coup. Castillo was succeeded in office by his Vice President Dina Boluarte, who has become Peru’s first woman president. Castillo is currently in pre-trial detention on charges of rebellion and conspiracy, where he has been visited by the IACHR. On Tuesday, Peru’s congress voted to bring elections forward to April 2024, with 91 of the legislature’s 130 members backing the plan. Castillo’s impeachment comes at a time of ongoing instability for Peru: the Andean country has now had six presidents since March 2018.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 24, 2022 07:26 UTC
Rodríguez Larreta: “Democracy is at stake”
Earlier on Friday, Rodríguez Larreta said he will report to the Court that their ruling has not been followed, and will file complaints against all the politicians involved. The city government of Buenos Aires appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which determines judicial and political decisions’ constitutionality. Earlier this week, the Court ruled that the federal government must increase the percentage to 2.95%. Buenos Aires’ Juntos por el Cambio administration celebrated, and Horacio Rodriguez Larreta announced he would cut taxes as a result of the measure. As both Horacio Rodrguez Larreta and Alberto Fernández have declared their intentions to run for president in 2023, the Supreme Court’s ruling could be interpreted as support for the current mayor of Buenos Aires.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 24, 2022 07:26 UTC
Candidates take a back seat to key Congress vote, Macri at large
Ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner also engages in low-level campaigning for a Senate seat in Buenos Aires province — indeed her son Máximo is more visible around Greater Buenos Aires. Running for the Workers’ Leftist Front, Néstor Pitrola descends on the Atlantic coast and highlights the dangers facing workers’ rights. Meanwhile her boss President Macri joins Buenos Aires province Governor María Eugenia Vidal in the Greater Buenos Aires district of Tres de Febrero — unsurprisingly, they make Metrobus part of their mobility. Finally, fortune smiles on Randazzo — electoral courts challenge the validity of Peronist rival Mario Ishii’s list. CFK’s senatorial running-mate Jorge Taiana complements her overtures to small business by joining auto workers in San Martín.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 17:02 UTC
Two sides of the coin
At present, by the date that students complete high school, 95 percent have taken complementary classes in private academies. I do not propose to replicate the experience of South Korea in Argentina. South Korea also heads the suicide rankings among young people because of the tremendous pressure young people are subjected to there. But there are very few countries in the world in which there is no evaluation at the end of high school or another one, in order to enter university. In the words of Guadagni: “Argentina is the Latin American country with the largest university population, 435 students per 10,000 inhabitants.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 17:02 UTC
Your View
Yet, a few weeks ago a reader wrote a letter criticising me, saying I was in denial for rejecting the 30,000 disappeared claim. I have three news items confirming that is where the 30,000 disappeared figure came from. The moment someone questions the 30,000 figure, human rights organisations, leftists and populist politicians protest. To conclude, the CONADEP 8,961 disappeared figure is not 100 percent correct, but is the best we have. My opinion: for much as I agree that the 30,000 figure catches people’s attention, the 8,961 figure is the figure ethical media should use.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC
Double deficit
Yet this contrast between a clear-cut orthodoxy and a confused gradualism can also be exaggerated — the media spotlight tends to fall on an unsustainably high fiscal deficit which the Macri administration has yet to show any sign of significantly taming but most observers fail to notice that Central Bank policies have resulted in the accumulation of a formidable quasi-fiscal deficit. While a Central Bank in the red formed part of the Kirchnerite inheritance, the negative data for net assets have ballooned in the last 18 months. But these dollar reserves have been purchased at the price of printing pesos way beyond local demand which then need to be “sterilised” by issuing Lebacs and other bonds at inordinately high interest rates, thus causing Central Bank debt to double from 28-plus to over 58 billion dollars. Such issues not only contribute numerically to the quasi-fiscal deficit but are qualitatively bad for the economy since they crowd the private sector out of credit markets. The previous Kirchnerite administration notoriously sustained its fiscal deficit by draining the Central Bank in order to avoid debt (not really an option while default persisted) but Sturzenegger’s policies do not seem to be doing anything to improve solvency.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC