News of economy ministry

Government mulling incentives for job growth, says Labour minister

Yesterdat 13:16 Argentina is considering fiscal incentives to encourage companies to hire workers after unemployment spiked to the highest in at least 16 years amid the pandemic, says Labour Minister Claudio Moroni.

IN FOCUS

Economy Ministry takes steps to relieve pressure on currency markets

21-10-2020 18:59 Economy Ministry unveils new measures designed to reduce the pressures on volatile currency markets and ward off devaluation.

BLOOMBERG

Argentina bond rout blows up the template for debt restructuring

19-10-2020 20:40 Investors are giving up on Argentina, just six weeks after the government pulled off a US$65-billion restructuring.

BLOOMBERG

Argentina’s currency woes show no sign of easing

10-10-2020 08:31 Argentina’s hodge podge exchange rate regime is running out of steam.

Bloomberg

Government mulls temporary cut on some crop export taxes

29-09-2020 17:16 Government weighing temporary reduction on some export taxes to boost dollar inflows, Bloomberg reports.

Bloomberg

Pesce, Guzmán split over curbs on dollar purchases

17-09-2020 16:19 Argentina's economic team split on latest crackdown, as well as how long new rules should remain in place.

ECONOMIC POLICY

Central Bank optimistic over post-bond swap future

25-08-2020 19:20 Central Bank Governor Miguel Ángel Pesce says closure of the debt swap deal would relieve pressures on exchange markets and improve economic expectations.

BLOOMBERG - OPINION

Mohamed A. El-Erian: Argentina's debt proposal deserves support

07-07-2020 01:35 It would be in neither side's long-term interest to allow the theoretical best to be the enemy of the attainable good – what is now on the table warrants support by both Argentina and its creditors.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

INDEC: Economy contracted by 5.4% in first quarter of 2020

23-06-2020 20:37 Unemployment rose to 10.4% in the first three months of the year, before the coronavirus lockdown kicked in, national statistics bureau reveals.

EXPROPRIATION OF VICENTIN

Vicentin’s expropriation and how to break bad news

20-06-2020 09:26 A Peronist expropriation, and maybe even nationalisation, sounds like the best way to burn a lot of money straight into inefficient bureaucracy and corruption.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

BLOOMBERG

Argentina would ease currency controls if debt talks are successful

29-05-2020 14:56 Central Bank leaders implemented new controls Thursday night, restricting companies’ access to the foreign exchange market to pay for obligations overseas in dollars or other currencies.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Production in a context of reduction

02-05-2020 10:58 Although always working with centre-left administrations, Kulfas has no political militancy or factional loyalty with his presence in the Cabinet entirely due to his personal links to President Fernández, as a leading member of his Grupo Callao think tank.

by Michael Soltys

CORRUPTION & THE COURTS

Ex-VP Boudou, jailed for corruption offences, granted house arrest

07-04-2020 18:44 Court granted house arrest to Boudou, who was vice-president during the second presidential term of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner from 2011 to 2015.

Coronavirus pandemic

Government postpones local debt payments due in dollars until end of year

06-04-2020 09:23 The government has issued a decree to defer close to US$9.8 billion in local dollar-denominated debt payments until 2021.

Bloomberg

Central Bank to pause run of rate cuts

12-03-2020 22:33 Central Bank plans to keep its policy rate unchanged, as it weighs the impact of sell-off on world markets.

RATE CUT

Central Bank cuts interest rate to 38%

06-03-2020 08:00 In its statement, the Central Bank’s committee said cooling prices justified the rate cut but that the economy wasn’t in the clear yet.

Bloomberg

BlackRock, Pimco fly to Argentina for private talk on debt

04-03-2020 16:58 Some of Argentina’s largest creditors flew to Buenos Aires for talks with Alberto Fernández’s government this week.

Bloomberg

Creditors offered bond swap ahead of key peso debt payment

04-03-2020 16:04 Argentina offers investors a swap that debt for new bonds maturing in 2019, in a move that could allow the government to avoid increasing money supply.

RATE CUT

Central Bank lowers key rate to 40%, extending cuts

19-02-2020 18:15 Central Bank chief Miguel Pesce justifies the rate cuts as a tool to help turn around Argentina’s economy, which is expected to contract for the third straight year in 2020.

RATE CUT

Central Bank cuts key interest rate for fifth time since December 10

30-01-2020 21:29 Rate floor cut to 48 percent on Thursday from 50 percent. Central bank chief Miguel Pesce has lowered it from 63 percent since taking office December 10.

FERNÁNDEZ'S FIRST MONTH

Fernández walks tightrope as he celebrates first month in office

09-01-2020 20:00 A month into his presidency, Peronist leader has embarked on an ambitious and risky juggling act in a bid to drag Argentina out of its worst economic crisis in almost 20 years.

Ley de Solidaridad

Cafiero: Government will approve emergency economic measures today

23-12-2019 17:23 "The enactment will be today," says Cabinet Chief.

INTERVIEW

Argentina is in 'virtual default,' declares President Fernández

23-12-2019 08:53 "It is not the same as 2001, but it is similar," Fernández said in an interview with TV programme La Cornice. "Today we are in virtual default."

BLOOMBERG – ANALYSIS

Fernández secures sweeping powers to conduct debt talks

22-12-2019 22:29 President will now have more authority to negotiate with creditors, raise worker salaries and hike taxes. Government secured passage with concessions including lower export taxes on oil, gas and mining, and tax relief for small farmers.

NEW CABINET

Meet Martín Guzmán, Argentina's next economy minister

09-12-2019 14:07 New economy minister, who is close to Nobel-Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, is seen as a critic of the International Monetary Fund.

Cabinet

Fernández appoints Martin Guzmán as economy minister

06-12-2019 19:57 "I have great confidence in him. He's a young man who is very prepared, and we have worked together for weeks," says Fernández.

TRANSITION 2019

Sandleris confirms resignation as Central Bank chief

05-12-2019 06:58 Central Bank chief confirms he will resign post ahead of December 10 handover. Argentina's monetary institution has had 61 presidents in the 84 years since its founding.

BLOOMBERG

Argentina running dangerously low on dollars to pay back debt

12-11-2019 17:18 Argentina must repay US$5 billion by the end of 2019. It doesn’t have much to work with.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Central Bank alters 2019 forecasts: 3% drop in GDP, inflation at 55.6%

05-11-2019 14:15 Monthly survey carried out by Central Bank downgrades forecasts for Argentina's economy.

CURRENCY CONTROLS

Central Bank tightens 'cepo,' sets US$50 limit on cash advances abroad

31-10-2019 22:10 The move comes three days after the Central Bank sharply tightened currency exchange controls to stem a surge in capital flight.

CENTRAL BANK

Sandleris asks for 'basic consensus' to ensure Argentina grows

16-10-2019 08:29 "If we manage to build basic consensus, our economy can leave behind instability and crisis, so that we can begin to grow steadily and begin to lower inflation," declares Central Bank chief.

BLOOMBERG

Central Bank raises rate floor to 78% as prices soar

18-09-2019 21:27 The rate floor will lower to 68% for all of October, while Central Bank officials project that Argentina’s monetary base will grow at a monthly rate of 2.5% in September and October.

BLOOMBERG

With controls in place, Central Bank cuts 85% rate, buys dollars

18-09-2019 14:08 Institution's move to choke off dollars hands peso some breathing room, with Central Bank buying dollars for first time in seven months.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

New Central Bank survey predicts 55% inflation in 2019

04-09-2019 09:46 GDP anticipated to contract by 2.5% this year, survey of economists and consultancy firms reveals.

CORRUPTION & THE COURTS

Boudou acquitted and convicted in unified trial over car purchases

29-08-2019 17:15 Former vice-president handed three-year suspended sentence for supplying false data for purchase of car, but is cleared of irregularities in the buying of 19 high-end vehicles dating back to when he led Economy Ministry.

BLOOMBERG

Bond investors keen to hear from Alberto Fernández's economic advisors

27-08-2019 12:24 Money managers including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and others have made contact with advisers to Alberto Fernández, with some pleasantly surprised by what they've heard.

BLOOMBERG

Argentina’s line in the sand – 55 pesos – holds firm

22-08-2019 16:56 Dollar auctions by the Central Bank and the Economy Ministry have kept the peso near the same level all week, even as a debate rages about a possible sovereign default and currency controls.

CHANGE AT THE TREASURY

Peso stability a priority, declares new Finance Minister Hernán Lacunza

20-08-2019 13:46 "Guaranteeing the exchange rate is a first-order objective," says Lacunza, who also promises that Argentina would keep 2019 fiscal targets set in alignment with IMF.

CHANGES IN CABINET

Dujovne resigns from government with Lacunza set to replace him

17-08-2019 19:49 Hernán Lacunza to move from Buenos Aires Province government to replace Nicolás Dujove, after Treasury and Finance minister resigned post on Saturday. Lacunza's number two, Damián Bonari, to head Province's Economy Ministry

PERMITS AWARDED

Government awards 18 permits for gas and oil exploration off southern coast

22-05-2019 16:32 The permits, announced by the Economy Ministry, centre on three regions on Argentina's continental shelf and run up to 13 years. Companies commit investment totalling US$724 million.