News of economy

Two can also be a crowd

Today 09:46 The convergence between president and vice-president, consolidated this week in favour of the latter’s line, carries the price of those who have always written off Alberto Fernández as a puppet standing vindicated.

ALBERTO'S PIVOT TO KIRCHNERISMO

Radicalised

Today 08:11 It is troubling to see how both President Alberto Fernández and certain leaders in the opposition have given up their “post-grieta” posture all too quickly, proving their political and ideological fragility.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Poverty

UN: Pandemic pushed LatAm extreme poverty to 20-year high

04-03-2021 13:41 Number of poor people in the region rose by 22 million in 2020 to 209 million. ECLAC calls for "new welfare state."

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Brazil ends new 'lost decade' with GDP drop of 4.1% in 2020

03-03-2021 10:26 The economy of Argentina's giant neighbour registered a 4.1% contraction in 2020, according to official data.

WEEKLY ROUND-UP

What we learn this week: February 20-27

27-02-2021 08:53 Our pick of the stories that caught our eye over the last seven days in Argentina.

SEARCH FOR A DIGITAL MANIFESTO

News in the age of the Internet

27-02-2021 07:51 At stake is the health of our information ecosystem, and therefore the robustness of democracy. This is the time for everyone with a vested interest in a strong field of journalistic production to act.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

IMF DEBT RESTRUCTURING

Government considers using new IMF reserves for loan payment

26-02-2021 16:58 Argentina is considering using new reserves to be issued by the International Monetary Fund to make a payment due to the lender in September, according to a person with direct knowledge.

IMF DEBT TALKS

IMF: Argentine team expected to hold loan talks in mid-March

25-02-2021 18:22 Economy Minister Martín Guzmán will visit Washington in mid-March, confirms IMF spokesperson Gerry Rice.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

INDEC estimates economy contracted 10% in 2020

25-02-2021 17:35 Bureau’s Monthly Estimator of Economic Activity (EMAE), published Wednesday, revealed the economy fell by 2.2% in December.

Global pandemic

Vaccine delays threaten economies hardest hit by pandemic

23-02-2021 12:24 Latin America and the Caribbean, the region where the coronavirus caused the worst economic destruction and more than a quarter of the world’s deaths, is now falling victim to a slow inoculation campaign.

BLOOMBERG – ANALYSIS

Bolsonaro calls for more changes after general goes to Petrobras

21-02-2021 08:25 Brazil leader says that more changes are underway after naming a former general to head Petrobras. Experts say Bolsonaro has chosen "economic populism."

BRAZIL UNDER BOLSONARO

Bolsonaro appoints Army reserve general to head Petrobras

21-02-2021 08:12 Brazil's far-right president appoints Army reserve general Joaquim Silva e Luna to lead state-owned energy giant Petrobras, after criticising several successive increases in the price of fuel.

THE WEEK

What we learned this week: February 13 to 20

20-02-2021 08:27 The stories that caught our eye over the last seven days in Argentina.

DEBT RESTRUCTURING

Bondholders: ‘Argentina desperately needs agreement with the IMF’

20-02-2021 08:18 Private bondholders group, who previously agreed to restructuring, accuse government of dragging its feet in talks with IMF to “continue its unsustainable policies even longer."

CARLOS MENEM (1930-2021)

The first post-modern president

20-02-2021 07:56 Menem was the emblem of Argentina’s eternal aspiration to be a First World cosmopolitan society.

by Gustavo González

CARLOS MENEM (1930-2021)

Choose your own Menem

20-02-2021 07:46 As from Menem, public officials who got rich on the job began to be the rule rather than the exception.

by Javier Calvo

AND THAT REMINDS ME...

Charlie was my darling

20-02-2021 07:40 A selection of purely personal memories and perceptions of Carlos Menem, including some that differ from conventional wisdom.

by Michael Soltys

AS I SEE IT

A most unlikely reformer

20-02-2021 07:31 Carlos Menem may have been the king of kitsch, but he was also something else.

by James Neilson

APPS & WORK

UK top court shakes up gig economy with ruling against Uber

19-02-2021 14:19 UK's Supreme Court rules Uber drivers are entitled to breaks, holiday pay and minimum wage, in what has been described as "another nail in the coffin" for the gig economy.

BLOOMBERG

Banco Galicia CEO: Inflation will keep battering banking returns

19-02-2021 12:42 Argentine banks took a beating last year, and the nation’s biggest lender says the industry is at risk of a repeat performance.

OBITUARY

Menem, ex-president who led Argentina for 10 years, dies at 90

14-02-2021 13:17 Former president, whose economic policies quashed hyperinflation during the 1990s but sowed the seeds for what became the largest debt default in history, has died. He was 90.

EDITORIAL

Dilemmas and defining factors

13-02-2021 10:36 Two entirely different news items at opposite ends of the past week might well be the shape of defining factors in this year’s elections.

AND THAT REMINDS ME

Suicide pacts are also consensus

13-02-2021 09:14 Consensus might sometimes push the right buttons but there is no guarantee and it is not a virtue in itself.

by Michael Soltys

ECONOMIC PLANS

Guzmán: ‘Austerity is not the way to go’

13-02-2021 09:01 At a talk hosted by Brown University, Argentina’s economy minister says the nation has a “thin corridor through which the economy has to transit,” as speculation grows over debt talks with the International Monetary Fund.

by Jonah Shrock

AS I SEE IT

Here we go again

13-02-2021 08:47 Meaningful reform will remain on the backburner until the votes have been counted.

by James Neilson

ARGENTINE AMAUTERISM

Guzmán’s first mistake

13-02-2021 08:40 The economy minister’s appeal stems from a technocratic approach to the field of public economics, coupled with a soft but convincing, almost stubborn, conviction in his plan.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Inflation continues to rise: Prices were up 4% in January

12-02-2021 01:00 INDEC national statistics bureau says prices rose by 4% in January, equal to December's rate.

Coronavirus Pandemic

Pandemic has hit LatAm women's employment hard, says report

11-02-2021 16:43 According to a UN report published on Wednesday, the pandemic could set women back ten years in terms of employment rate.

BLOOMBERG

IMF warns surging virus threatens to curb Latin America rebound

08-02-2021 22:16 Latin America’s economic recovery faces risks from failure to stop the spread of the coronavirus and the need for new lockdown measures, says the IMF.

IMF DEBT TALKS

IMF official: Argentina deal by May is an ambitious timeline

08-02-2021 22:11 IMF Western Hemisphere Director Alejandro Werner says May target for new financing programme is "clearly ambitious," though not "unviable."

Lava Jato

Brazil's watershed 'Lava Jato' graft probe ends with a whimper

08-02-2021 15:20 One of the biggest corruption investigations in history wraps up after falling into scandal itself.

EDITORIAL

Not so much how to win as when?

06-02-2021 10:32 The current combination of capital controls, price freezes, overpriced bonds, etc. might suffice for the next eight months without bursting, but not for a further two years.

AS I SEE IT

Weighed down by an entitlement culture

06-02-2021 09:50 Will Argentina be able to prosper in the brave new world that is coming our way? Not unless she manages to change lanes in the near future. As things stand, this is most unlikely to happen.

by James Neilson

GLOBAL PANDEMIC

UK faces up to painful lessons after 100,000 Covid deaths

30-01-2021 09:20 Britain this week became the first European country to pass 100,000 Covid deaths, in a grim milestone nearly one year since its first case of the disease.

UNITED STATES

Biden talks the talk – but can he deliver?

30-01-2021 09:10 What will happen when US president’s slickly run messaging operation hits harsh reality?

PRAISE AT DAVOS

Oxfam hails Argentina’s ‘wealth tax’ as law takes effect

30-01-2021 08:21 Charity calls on other nation states to raise taxes on their richest citizens, citing government’s new law as an example.

ECONOMIC FORECAST

IMF cuts Argentina’s 2021 growth estimate to 4.5%

30-01-2021 08:16 Fund predicts strong economic rebound across the globe, but trims forecast for local economy by 0.4%.

EDITORIAL

Vaccination versus immunity to change

30-01-2021 08:04 The error-strewn launch of vaccination campaigns marks a new phase in the pandemic and with it some subtle changes in perspective.

INTERVIEW: PERIODISMO PURO

Marcela Losardo: 'Alberto Fernández has been preparing all his life for this job'

30-01-2021 07:46 Throughout the last 40 years, nobody has spent more time close to the president than his Justice Minister Marcela Losardo, his chief confidante.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

'Wealth tax'

Government's 'wealth tax' levy for virus relief takes effect

29-01-2021 15:27 One-off tax on Argentina's richest citizens to help pay for medical supplies and relief for small businesses battered by the global coronavirus pandemic entered into force on Friday.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Trade volume fell 14.9% in 2020, but with US$12.5B surplus

28-01-2021 16:43 Trade volume last year totalled US$97.24 billion, 14.9% down from the previous year, but with surplus of US$12.528 billion.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Argentina posts first trade deficit since 2018 after port strike

27-01-2021 11:08 Country recorded a trade deficit of US$364 million in December, government data published Tuesday showed. While imports grew 25% in annual terms driven by an economic recovery, exports slumped by 34%.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Economic activity fell 3.7% in November year-on-year

27-01-2021 10:35 INDEC says activity contracted by 10.6% in first 11 months of 2020, but registered a 1.4 percent rise in November from previous month.

AND THAT REMINDS ME...

Your petrol frizzled

23-01-2021 10:19 If Vaca Muerta is indeed a dead cow, then Argentina will end up importing fuel, a move which will surely cost more dollars than those denied YPF to service its debts.

by Michael Soltys

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Pandemic costs sent primary fiscal gap to 6.5% of GDP

23-01-2021 09:59 Fiscal deficit skyrocketed last year to highest since 1993, as the pandemic forced increase in social spending.

UNITED STATES

New US president gets to work rolling back Trump-era policies

23-01-2021 09:54 Biden issues flurry of executive orders, warns that Covid-19 is expected to kill "well over 600,000" in the United States.

BIDEN INAUGURATION

Biden, facing historic challenges, vows to end ‘uncivil war’

23-01-2021 09:32 Trump era finally draws to close as Joseph Biden is sworn-in as 46th president of United States, two weeks after deadly attack on US Capitol.

US-LATIN AMERICAN RELATIONS

Biden to adopt ‘dramatically different’ approach to Latin America

23-01-2021 08:57 With President Joe Biden now in the White House, three respected experts offer their opinions on what lies ahead for US-Latin American relations over the next four years.

by Jennifer Heiman

IMF DEBT TALKS

President Fernández holds talks with IMF chief Georgieva

22-01-2021 02:25 The government is hoping to renegotiate repayments on a US$44-billion loan granted to the Mauricio Macri administration by the Fund in 2018.