Milei’s controversial ‘dollarization’ proposal: consulting firms weigh in
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 19, 2023 12:18 UTC
Lithium: record exports and battery-production fine print
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 19, 2023 02:33 UTC
Transport strikes: 200 bus lines to stop running on Wednesday
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 18, 2023 14:03 UTC
Government launches website following dictatorship trials in real time
“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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 17, 2023 19:39 UTC
Argentina to host the U-20 World Cup
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 17, 2023 19:11 UTC
Analysis: Neuquén incumbent party likely to triumph but Río Negro provincialists could struggle
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 16, 2023 12:59 UTC
Deputy Secretary Sherman: it is important to get macroeconomics settled in Argentina
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 16, 2023 05:13 UTC
Economy Ministry: March inflation rate was “extremely high”
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 15, 2023 19:09 UTC
Herald favorites: “The Trial”
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 15, 2023 19:09 UTC
Lula puts Ukraine peace on his China agenda
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 11, 2023 21:21 UTC
Government extends sovereign bond holding period
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 11, 2023 18:55 UTC
Agro dollar kicks off with hopes for US$5 billion in 45 days
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$5 billion could come in, as indicated by companies in the sector. “The question remains about what will happen after May 24, because if we take into consideration what happened with the two previous versions of the soybean dollar rate, soybean sales contracted monumentally after the differential exchange rate ended, which resulted in a smaller income of dollars. This is why the scope of the measure regarding regional economies is still being defined. In any case, all the exporting sectors of regional economies approve of this measure, which may speed up exports and also boost the Central Bank’s reserves.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 10, 2023 20:55 UTC
Income tax changes to benefit 600,000 workers
Around 600,000 workers will receive up to 16% more take-home pay after Economy Minister Sergio Massa and the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) trade union federation agreed that some kinds of pay would no longer count towards the income tax threshold. The agreement means that formally employed workers in a variety of professions will no longer have to pay the tax because they will fall below the threshold. Economy Ministry sources did not respond to requests from the Herald to confirm the details. In Argentina, the threshold for paying income tax is AR$ 404,062 per month. At present, an estimated 12% of workers pay it.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 10, 2023 19:01 UTC
Dengue kills 14 and infects nearly 30,000 across Argentina
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).
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 08, 2023 23:17 UTC
Police search bus passengers after driver assassination
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.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
April 08, 2023 20:56 UTC