News of economy ministry

Foreign Ministry set to meet chainsaw after Mondino's failure to cut costs

05-11-2024 10:32 The now former foreign minister not only displeased President Milei, she also failed to cut costs. Mondino’s lack of budget-slashing means La Libertad Avanza’s chainsaw will now descend on the Palacio San Martín.

by Juan Pablo Kavanagh

Analysing Argentina

Milei’s magical thinking about a Trump victory

02-11-2024 07:38 Argentina — or Latin America, for that matter — will not be an immediate priority for any incoming US administration, though Milei may leverage his ideological rapport with a potential President Trump.

by Marcelo J. García

HEALTHCARE & ECONOMY

Workers launch vigil to save mental health hospital from cutbacks

08-10-2024 17:31 President Javier Milei’s chainsaw hits Bonaparte Hospital in Parque Patricios; Workers stage vigil against alleged “closure” of hospital as Health Ministry states “restructuring process” has begun.

POLITICS & ECONOMY

Caputo’s number two at Economy Ministry quits government

17-06-2024 16:09 Economic Policy secretary Joaquín Cottani resigns for personal reasons; Likely replace is Argentine-born Chilean economist José Luis Daza, who worked with Luis Caputo at JP Morgan and Deustche Bank.

POLITICS

Officials close ranks behind Pettovello as pressure builds

06-06-2024 20:51 Leading figures in government close ranks behind embattled Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello; President Milei backs ‘best minister in history’ as foodstuffs scandal rumbles on.

EXPIRED FOOD SCANDAL

Expired food scandal: a chronology of hunger which the government sought to silence

06-06-2024 14:41 Human Capital Ministry’s missteps over more than millions of kilos of food held back at warehouses has exploded into scandal. Audits galore, dismissals, denunciations and an official communiqué overtaken by the facts.

INTERVIEW

Ex-Energy and Mining secretary Flavia Royón: 'RIGI is necessary’

06-06-2024 00:50 Former Energy & Mining secretary in Alberto Fernández and Javier Milei governments says RIGI investment incentive scheme is “necessary to develop LNG, hydrogen and mining projects.”

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

Colombia expels Argentine diplomats amid row with Milei

28-03-2024 01:22 Colombia orders expulsion of Argentine diplomats after President Javier Milei describes his counterpart Gustavo Petro as a "terrorist" and "murderer."

Argentina peso bond

Argentina peso bond puts balloon, spurring inflation risk

05-03-2024 14:16 Puts on Argentina’s peso debt issued by the Central Bank have surged under Javier Milei’s government, reaching a record and prompting officials to scale back their use amid growing investor concern.

EMPLOYMENT & WELFARE

Government eliminates Potenciar Trabajo job scheme, plans new dual system

29-02-2024 00:08 Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello issues decree with President Javier Milei eradicating job aid scheme in bid to cut out intermediaries; New dual system set up to replace it.

POVERTY

More hunger, less money: Soup kitchens count rations

15-02-2024 00:33 At community meal centres across Argentina, a dual crisis is biting: the influx of ever more hungry mouths to feed during an economic crisis, and a decision by President Javier Milei's new government to freeze their aid.

Bloomberg

Goldman, Barclays, Citi get up-close look at Milei’s Argentina

09-02-2024 00:08 Some of Wall Street’s largest banks are set to visit Argentina just as Javier Milei tries to come back from a massive defeat in Congress.

PROTESTERS CHALLENGE PETTOVELLO

Huge 'hunger line' in Buenos Aires challenges Milei's minister

06-02-2024 00:03 Sandra Pettovello’s claim she would attend to the hungry “one by one” backfires as hundreds of demonstrators form long queues outside her Human Capital Ministry, demanding greater state assistance in the face of a food emergency.

Interview

Pablo Moyano: ‘Luis Caputo should be thrown into jail, not the Riachuelo’

31-01-2024 16:10 Camioneros boss and CGT secretary-general lets loose, letting rip at Economy Minister Luis Caputo. “Governance will be complicated,” he warns President Javier Milei.

by Juan Pablo Kavanagh

BLOOMBERG – ANALYSIS

‘There is no money’: Argentina begins economic shock remedy

13-12-2023 11:41 Measures include 54% peso devaluation, additional 2% a month; Plan seen as step in the right direction, perhaps insufficient by traders.

NEW GOVERNMENT

Government to roll out first crisis measures in evening broadcast

12-12-2023 09:53 Economy Minister Luis Caputo will deliver a recorded speech at 5pm Tuesday, in which he will outline emergency measures from President Javier Milei’s new government.

ECONOMIC POLICY

Milei says Argentina heading for ‘shock’ fiscal therapy

23-11-2023 18:47 President-elect Milei warns Argentina faces ‘shock adjustment’; Inflation could take 18 to 24 months to calm, says libertarian.

MILEI’S GOVERNMENT

Caputo leading Milei’s economic transition team, may be minister

23-11-2023 18:29 Former central bank governor Luis ‘Toto’ Caputo is now leading the economic transition team of President-elect Javier Milei and is now seen as the frontrunner to head the Economy Ministry.

ELECTION 2023: FALL-OUT

Milei says no transition meeting planned as Massa decides to stay on

20-11-2023 18:39 Javier Milei says that "there is no meeting planned" with President Alberto Fernández and says responsibility for period until December 10 inauguration lies with head of state and Sergio Massa, who decides to stay on as economy minister.

BLOOMBERG - ANALYSIS

Milei opens a new era: What comes next in Argentina policy-making

20-11-2023 09:25 Milei’s biggest political challenge will be his lack of support in Congress, where his party only counts a minority of senators and a fraction of lower house representatives.

ELECTION 2023: FALL-OUT

Report: Economy Minister Massa ‘to take leave of absence’

19-11-2023 23:59 Argentina’s Economy Minister Sergio Massa will reportedly seek a leave of absence from his post to "facilitate the transition" with President-elect Javier Milei; President Alberto Fernández speaks with election winner and duo agree to meet Monday for talks.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Government has printed equivalent of 18% of GDP since 2019

19-09-2023 09:33 New report says President Alberto Fernández’s administration has printed the monetary equivalent of 3% of GDP so far this year, most of it aimed at the repurchase of bonds to protect their price level.

ELECTION 2023

Massa seeks to assert leadership of Peronist coalition

18-09-2023 21:07 Unión por la Patria presidential candidate is willing to occupy the space vacated by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. If he wins the elections, he promises strong leadership, defined by decision-making and firmness.

by Rosario Ayerdi

POLITICS

Argentina spares millions from paying income tax as vote nears

11-09-2023 21:12 Workers earning less than 1.7 million pesos (US$4,857) per month won’t have to pay income taxes as of October, up from the previous threshold of about 700,000 pesos.

PASO REACTION

Out of options and money, Argentina presses the panic button

14-08-2023 22:09 After years of trying to avoid a currency devaluation that would add to soaring inflation and reduce its popularity with voters, Argentina's government has finally pushed the panic button.

INTERVIEW / PERIODISMO PURO

Martín Guzmán: ‘Abandoning the currency never did anybody any good’

10-06-2023 06:27 Argentina’s former economy minister on tackling inflation, unifying the exchange rate regime, the IMF debt deal he negotiated and what happens after the October election.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Hanging on in quiet desperation

29-04-2023 05:35 The chain of events that will be most consequential in delivering the next inhabitant of the Casa Rosada have already been set in motion. They are irreversible.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

ECONOMY MINISTRY

Government raises income-tax floor to half a million pesos

25-04-2023 13:29 Government raises income-tax floor to 500,000 pesos as inflation bites into pockets of workers.

POLITICS

‘Plan Platita II’? Government to stuff pockets as inflation bites

18-04-2023 14:02 To mitigate the coalition friendly fire that has been rekindled by the confirmation of accelerating price hikes, Serio Massa’s economic cabinet is drawing up a new programme to stimulate consumption.

Bloomberg

Brazil’s inflation expectations level off after fiscal plan

03-04-2023 12:08 President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government presents a highly-anticipated fiscal rule proposal to help control the growth of public debt.

LOCAL DEBT PILE

Argentina sells US$2 billion in peso debt after ordering bond swap

22-03-2023 21:56 Argentina sells close to 417 billion pesos (US$2 billion) in peso-denominated notes and bonds via auction, latest step in managing a massive local debt pile as the government seeks to extend maturities until after October elections.

Central Bank reserves

Government obliges state bodies to convert dollar bonds into pesos

22-03-2023 17:00 State entities are to sell their dollar bonds on the market in return for peso debt bonds issued by the Treasury with the aim of taming surges in the CCL and MEP parallel but legal exchange rates.

MARKETS

Bonds slide after government orders public sector sale

22-03-2023 12:17 Argentina’s sovereign-risk spread over US Treasuries widened as many as 126 basis points on Wednesday to almost 2,500, its widest in four months.

Bloomberg

Government wants to swap public sector local debt for 2026 bonds

21-03-2023 13:10 Officials want to sell new bonds maturing in 2026 and 2027, lengthening the sovereign debt maturity curve as a way of sending a signal to the private sector to also extend their maturities.

Oil production

Shale oil exports to spur Argentina's trade surplus, official says

07-03-2023 17:07 Booming oil production out of shale patch Vaca Muerta will create surpluses in energy trade for Argentina to the tune of US$8 billion within a few years, says top official.