News of inflation

THE COST OF CRISIS

Argentines continue to pay the price of economic meltdowns

17-08-2019 11:14 While investors, creditors and businesspeople lament the potential departure of Mauricio Macri, many voters – hit by spiralling inflation and the economic downturn – are nostalgic for the days of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her late husband.

by Lucas Robinson

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Héctor Torres: ‘Macri has to work for the country, not for his re-election’

16-08-2019 17:22 Former IMF executive director and international economic law and trade expert Héctor Torres on ‘Black Monday,’ the errors of the Macri administration and why Alberto Fernández and the president must put Argentina first.

by Lucas Robinson

DEMAND FROM TENANTS

Groups ask government to freeze rent fees as inflation soars

16-08-2019 15:49 Organisations dedicated to defending the rights of tenants ask Macri administration to introduce new measures to help renters make ends meet.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Inflation for July 2.2%, prices up 25.1% in last seven months

15-08-2019 16:17 INDEC data reveals prices have risen by 54.4% over the last 12 months.

PASO

In dual rallies, Frente de Todos vows ‘an Argentina everyone deserves’

09-08-2019 18:50 With Fernández in Córdoba and Fernández de Kirchner and Kicillof in the province, Frente de Todos ends its PASO campaign with a round of final attacks on President Macri and his allies.

BLOOMBERG

High-altitude Argentine winemaker profits from peso’s fall

08-08-2019 10:51 A Swiss multimillionaire has slowly profited from the country's economic crisis with a Salta vineyard that exports 65 percent of its product to the US.

PASO

Campaigns gear up for final PASO sprint

05-08-2019 15:27 The primary's final week will see Macri campaign in the City and the 'Fernández-Fernández' ticket reuniting in Rosario.

INDEC REPORT

Salaries in election spotlight, as inflation continues to hurt consumers

02-08-2019 17:48 Inflation has risen 17.2% above than registered salaries since last May, new INDEC data reveals.

by Lucas Robinson

BLOOMBERG

Roberto Lavagna promises to crack down on carry trade if elected

01-08-2019 09:07 Comments come as investors pile on the carry trade – buying Argentine peso-denominated bonds with borrowed dollars – to take advantage of benchmark rates of around 60 percent and a stable peso ahead of elections.

Inflation

Inflation continues to decelerate as INDEC reveals prices rose 2.7% in June

16-07-2019 19:51 June marks the third consecutive month of decelerating inflation. Cumulative inflation for the first half of the year now totals 22.4%, with increases of 55.8% registered over last 12 months.

by Jonah Shrock

ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH

Government sells the future, opposition stuck in present

06-07-2019 09:24 This is the year that will define whether Macri's centreright, pro-market presidency is an exception to multi-headed Peronist rule, or if it’s the new norm for 21st century Argentina.

by Marcelo J. Garcia

KEY STORIES

July 1st-7th:What We Learned This Week

06-07-2019 08:15 What caught our eye the last seven days?

IMF

IMF delegation arrives in Argentina to meet with Alberto Fernández, Roberto Lavagna

25-06-2019 17:38 The international organisation said that the purpose of the visit it to "exchange views on Argentina's economic current economic outlook".

Bloomberg

Argentina prices may drop fast, says man who couldn't tame them

18-06-2019 13:35 Federico Sturzenegger, former president of the Central Bank of Argentina, said in his first interview since leaving office that Argentina could reach a monthly inflation rate of around one percent by the end of the year.

Inflation

Argentine inflation decelerates for the second consecutive month with a rate of 3.1%

13-06-2019 20:04 The interannual index reached 57.3%. During the last month, the sector that grew the most was health, with a jump of 5.1%.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Government boosted as official data shows inflation slowed to 3.4% in April

15-05-2019 17:31 Rate of price increases slows after accelerations in February and March. INDEC reveals prices have risen by 55.8% over last 12 months.

KEY STORIES

Oct 15th-21st: What We Learned This Week

20-10-2018 09:04 What has happened the last seven days?

COST OF LIVING

Experts raise forecasts as inflation soars

20-10-2018 08:36 Analysts predict annual rate will come in over 45%, casting a shadow over President Macri’s re-election hopes.

currency volatility

Macri: ‘Dollar has calmed down’

18-08-2018 09:53 The dollar soared 63 pesocents this week to 30.42 pesos, the Central Bank reported.

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

Corruption, he wrote

11-08-2018 13:05 Inflation is such an acute everyday aggravation that it becomes all too easy to forget that devaluation might well be twice as fast – around 70 percent by the end of the year according to various estimates.

by Michael Soltys

FINANCIAL MARKETS

Investors split on opportunities amid market turbulence

14-07-2018 09:24 While the dramatic ups and downs in Argentina’s turbulent economy have caused many investors to think twice before investing in local assets, others believe this is a perfect time to look again.

DEVALUATION AND CRISIS

Chairman Macri and the Austrian dilemma

14-07-2018 08:03 Macri needs to lay out a plan to recover productivity across major economic sectors which includes lowering taxes while broadening the base by disincentivising informal labour.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

A QUICK REVIEW

Jun 11th-17th: What we learned this week

16-06-2018 11:35 Top stories from the last seven days.

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

Changing scenario – or staged?

26-05-2018 09:46 Now that an overvalued peso has been abandoned as an anchor against inflation, the next most effective tool in Argentine experience has been recession.

by Michael Soltys

9.6% so far this year

Gov’t inflation target slips away as INDEC reports 2.7% in April

16-05-2018 10:14 In light of its ongoing roll-back of utilities and public transport subsidies, the government long ago conceded that inflation would be higher in the first part of the year while insisting it would start to drop from May.

INFLATION

Oil companies agree to Aranguren’s two-month fuel price freeze

12-05-2018 13:12 The agreement will serve to “soften the effects of local petrol price increases and contribute to the short-term stabilisation of price of the economy”, an Energy Ministry statement said.

COUNTDOWN

Washington ups the ante against Maduro as election tension grips Venezuela

12-05-2018 12:06 Venezuela’s opposition last week called for a boycott of the May 20 election, which the late Hugo Chávez’s successor looks likely to win in the absence of any real challenge to his authority

RISING COST OF LIVING

Prices: Reprieve for gas, 'subte' users as gov’t faces rising pressure

08-05-2018 09:53 A City court has posponed a hike to 'subte' underground fares while Energy Minister Juan José Aranguren wants oil companies to implement a two-month price freeze.

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

Greenback takes frontstage

05-05-2018 10:57 Most experts date the stampede at the end of April back to the ‘original sin’ of the ‘recalibration’ of inflation targets on December but I would also trace it to an underlying schizophrenia going much further back – the simultaneous desire to hold down the dollar as an anchor against inflation

by Michael Soltys

PESO SLUMPS AGAINST DOLLAR

Third time lucky as intervention stabilises peso against the dollar

05-05-2018 08:32 Central Bank raises benchmark interest rate to 40 percent to support the peso, the third such hike in just over a week. Ministers move to reassure markets, but financial media outlets remain downbeat.

ECONOMIC FEARS

‘We’re far away from 2001’, says Argentina's Commerce Secretary

03-05-2018 11:37 Miguel Braun's comments come after former Economy minister Domingo Cavallo suggested that the government was walking an economic tight rope.

RISING COSTS

Water prices, underground transport fares to jump from May

30-04-2018 10:55 It has been a rough four months for hip pockets in Argentina. Already this year, consumers have seen price hikes in gas, electricity, taxis, buses, private healthcare plans and petrol.

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

Money acting funny

28-04-2018 10:24 Macri is using María Eugenia Vidal’s initiative in waiving provincial taxation to pressure her colleagues to emulate her, thus placing the ball in their court.

by Michael Soltys

SOCIALIST GOVERNOR

'Macri is passing the buck onto provinces': Santa Fe governor Lifschitz

24-04-2018 11:47 The national government wants provincial governments to partly cover the costs of the temporary pricing mechanism it announced last week that will allow consumers to pay their Winter utility bills in delayed installments.

MEETING AT PINK HOUSE

Gov't to huddle with allies for solutions to utility price backlash

19-04-2018 12:46 The Radical Party (UCR) and lawmaker Elisa Carrio want the government to address concerns surrounding rising utility prices.

6.3% in 1st quarter alone

IMF forecasts Argentina's annual inflation at 22.7%, lowers growth outlook

17-04-2018 15:24 Most private estimates of inflation are in line with the IMF’s while general sentiment, especially in the halls of the Central Bank, stand in contrast with the government’s optimism.

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

April showers

14-04-2018 11:19 Pamper the pampa might have been the initial instinct of the first non-Peronist government in almost three decades but last October’s electoral gains seem to have turned the Greater Buenos Aires urban sprawl into the main priority.

by Michael Soltys

FIRST QUARTER REVIEW

Inflation for March clocks in at 2.3%

14-04-2018 09:01 The government’s 2018 aim of 15% looks like a very long shot.

KEY STORIES FROM THE LAST SEVEN DAYS

April 2nd-8th: What we learned this week

07-04-2018 09:14 From Caputo's controversial message, to teachers strike and the russians leaving the submarine's search.

SUPERMARKET CHAIN

Carrefour begins crisis prevention proceedings with Labour Ministry

06-04-2018 12:29 The French firm says it is experiencing “a complex economic situation after three years of losses”.

Economic review

Macri: ‘I thought the inflation rate would drop faster’

19-03-2018 11:18 President Macri's comments come as IMF chief Christine Lagarde praised the government for “attacking economic problems with determination, not in half measures, but on the basis of sustainable measures over time”.

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

It takes a monster to fight a monster

10-03-2018 11:58 As this column has stated umpteen times, the correction of relative prices via updating public service charges must be completed before there can be any real hope of single-digit inflation.

by Michael Soltys

ECONOMIC QUESTIONS

Keeping up interest

17-02-2018 12:26 Argentina currently has two methods of deficit financing: either the pesos are printed directly to plug the gap or debt is incurred. Yet to the extent that the liquidity is absorbed, the causes of inflation must be sought elsewhere.

by Michael Soltys

Unions foresee mass job losses

National gov't moves to shrink public sector with sackings across several ministries

02-01-2018 16:23 As many as 702 public sector workers have lost their jobs at the national government level since early December while another 530 are at risk.

From 10 to 15%

Gov’t fends off attacks over inflation backtrack

29-12-2017 13:34 The news added impetus to the dollar's seemingly endless rise. The greenback leapt over the 19-peso mark ending 19.46 pesos on Thursday.