News of paso

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.

NEW MINISTER

Hernán Lacunza begins work after being sworn in as new finance minister

20-08-2019 08:58 "I want to thank Hernán Lacunza for accepting this complex responsibility in such a difficult time," declares President Macri at Casa Rosada ceremony.

Bolsonaro's Brazil

Bolsonaro: Argentines took out money from banks 'en masse' after Fernández win

19-08-2019 15:06 Since the Frente de Todos candidate's win in this month's primary, the Brazilian president has repeatedly attacked the Kirchnerite party, slamming "leftist bandits" seeking "return to power."

BLOOMBERG

Supporters stand by Alberto Fernández after week of market turmoil

19-08-2019 12:49 Macri supporters are clinging to hopes he can turn around his campaign and pull off an upset in the October 27 presidential election.

BLOOMBERG

Fresh turmoil on cards after Dujovne resignation, debt downgrades

19-08-2019 08:11 Negative headlines may unleash a fresh bout of market turmoil after a brief respite at the end of last week. Argentina’s global bonds will be the first to react, while the nation’s currency and stock markets remain closed on Monday due to a local holiday.

ECONOMIC MEASURES

President echoes opponents with post-PASO measures for pockets

17-08-2019 11:05 In wake of heavy defeat in primaries, Macri administration annonuces salary hikes, tax cuts and slashes IVA off basic food products, in bid to tackle runaway inflation and get voters back onside.

POST-PASO ARGENTINA

A week is a long time in politics

17-08-2019 10:46 President Mauricio Macri’s PASO loss to Alberto Fernández has dramatically altered Argentina’s political landscape.

by James Grainger

ELECTION 2019

Macri fumbles PASO

17-08-2019 09:59 How did that happen? Well, unemployment is higher than in 2015. Poverty is higher than 2015. Inflation is higher than in 2015. Voters are having a hard time making ends meet. Top all that with the massive utility rate hikes and what do you get? Electoral defeat, that’s what.

by Martín Gambarotta

ELECTION 2019

Post PASO depression

17-08-2019 09:09 The country finds itself in a conundrum. An election that is not an election has prompted a potential ‘puppet candidate’ into a virtual status of power.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

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

PASO FALL-OUT

Macri moves to eliminate IVA from food items

15-08-2019 20:48 President moves to eliminate IVA (VAT, value-added tax) from basic food products – such as bread, milk and other foods – until December.

BLOOMBERG – ANALYSIS

Markets: Dead-cat bounce finally arrives for Argentine markets

15-08-2019 15:08 After a brutal three-day sell-off that saw average yields spike to 21% and an implied probability of default gauge surge above 80% percent, investors finally found prices cheap enough to begin taking risk in the battered credit.

TWO LEADERS SPEAK

Macri holds 'long and good' telephone conversation with Fernández

14-08-2019 16:10 Earlier in the day, opposition leader Alberto Fernández had rejected the idea of meeting with the current president, saying "it doesn't make sense."

BLOOMBERG

Bitcoin draws premium in Argentina and Hong Kong amid sell-off

14-08-2019 09:35 The turmoil in Argentina and Hong Kong is prompting local investors to pay a premium for Bitcoin.

BLOOMBERG

YPF bonds hit record low after Fernández-Fernández PASO win

13-08-2019 09:16 Bonds drop amid fears Peronist victory will lead to re-imposition of regulated energy prices.

PASO FALL-OUT

'We need more time to reflect,' says Vidal after PASO loss to Kicillof

12-08-2019 16:34 Buenos Aires Province Governor María Eugenia Vidal admits her government has to 'listen' to voters in the province in run-up to October's decisive vote, after steep loss to Kirchnerite hopeful Axel Kicillof.

ANALYSIS: PASOs 2019

Macri, Fernández must begin transition of power now

12-08-2019 16:31 Alberto Fernández has still not woken up to the fact that he's the virtual president-elect. When he spoke on Sunday evening, upping the ante to gain even more votes in October, he spoke of "in the next two months." His problem starts now, in the next two days.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

PASO

Lula, Bolsonaro react to PASO vote

12-08-2019 13:35 The jailed former Brazilian president tweeted: "It's necessary to give hope to the people, to bring better days and tend to those who need it most."

Black monday

Black Monday: Peso slumps to 60 per dollar in some banks, MERVAL collapses

12-08-2019 13:18 Central bank ups interest rates to nearly 75 percent as peso and stock market collapse.

PASO

Kicillof routs Vidal in Buenos Aires Province gubernatorial race

11-08-2019 23:30 Former economy minister garners nearly half the entire votes in province, 49 percent, against the incumbent governor's 32 percent.

PASOs 2019

Rodríguez Larreta gives Macri some good news with victory in BA City

11-08-2019 22:33 City mayor announced a victory early Sunday night over Frente de Todos candidate Matías Lammens.

PASO 2019

What if a bomb flies in Hormuz?

10-08-2019 11:53 At the end of the day, pretty much any exogenous shock could throw everything in Argentina into disarray.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

PASO 2019

Controversy arises over use of Smartmatic system in PASOs

10-08-2019 11:38 Government officials dismiss concerns over voting system, after Consenso Federal and Frente de Todos express fears about potential fraud.

BLOOMBERG

In era of extremes, Argentina's candidates fight for the centre

10-08-2019 11:18 The government and its main opposition demonise each other as extremists while fighting for votes in the middle of the political spectrum from an electorate that demands solutions.

by Marc Margolis

PASO

Lavagna hopes to outperform expectations of polls

10-08-2019 10:37 Consenso Federal presidential candidate Roberto Lavagna closed his campaign Friday with his now-traditional thirdway pitch, asking voters to say “no to the bad from before and no to the bad from now.”

PASO

Del Caño: I’m the anti-IMF candidate

10-08-2019 10:34 Frente de Izquierda presidential hopeful Nicolas Del Caño closed his campaign on Wednesday urging voters to support the “only political force that believes that the IMF should not be allowed to govern the country” and questioned the “false polarisation that they want to impose” ahead of the PASO.

PASO

Espert vows to say ‘chau’ to ‘old politics’

10-08-2019 10:33 Presidential hopeful for Frente Despertar José Luis Espert ended his campaign on Thursday in Almirante Brown Plaza, just behind the Casa Rosada, with the battle cry of “chau to Kirchnerismo and Macrismo.”

PASO

Macri asks Argentina to ‘vote for the future’ in PASOs

10-08-2019 10:17 ‘The country we want is in the future, not in the past,’ declares president at closing rally, as Juntos por el Cambio strives to boost Governor Vidal’s changes of re-election in Buenos Aires Province.

ELECTION 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH

The yelling stops as voters provide an X-ray of Argentina

10-08-2019 10:01 The last week of the campaign, marked by China’s devaluation of the yuan, was yet another indication that Argentina is as fragile as it can get and that anything that happens abroad will hit the country head on.

by Marcelo J. Garcia

ELECTION 2019

All things must PASO

10-08-2019 09:49 The president’s camp is painting tomorrow’s vote as a crucial polarising showdown — even when the turn-out in the primaries is usually about two million voters less than in October.

by Martín Gambarotta

PASO

A question of margins: PASOs to offer reality check

10-08-2019 09:07 Domestic and international observers fear economic backlash, should Alberto Fernández finish more than five points ahead of President Macri and his allies in this weekend’s primaries.

EDITORIAL

What’s the point of the PASOs?

10-08-2019 08:59 The PASO primaries were created by Law 26,571 in late 2009 during the first term of the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner presidency with both an institutional and a hidden agenda.

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.

PASOs 2019

Pro-Macri Twitter bots deliver final PASO scandal

09-08-2019 18:10 The incoherent tweets became a viral conversation on Thursday and Friday, with both campaigns pointing fingers at each other.

ELECTION EXPLAINER

Argentina's PASO primaries: What you need to know

08-08-2019 21:34 Argentina goes to the polls on Sunday for “open, simultaneous and obligatory primaries.” Confused? Here's a breakdown of what you need to know.

ELECTION 2019

Before supporters in Rosario, Alberto Fernández asks Argentina to change course

08-08-2019 09:57 "Don't ask them where they come from, ask where they want to go," declares Frente de Todos candidate, as he and running-mate Cristina Fernández de Kirchner promise to leave the recession behind.

PASO

Negative PASO result for Macri would unleash market turmoil, warn analysts

07-08-2019 17:30 Domestic and international observers fear economic backlash, should Alberto Fernández finish more than five points ahead of President Macri and his allies in this weekend's primaries.

by Lucas Robinson

2019 Election

Macri closes Buenos Aires campaign ahead of PASO

07-08-2019 00:06 Juntos por el Cambio’s Buenos Aires candidates held their final pre-PASO rally in Caballito Tuesday to make their case to porteños.

FINANCE

Pre-PASO turbulence sends peso to 46.69 per greenback

05-08-2019 18:03 Pre-PASO turbulence and China's devaluation of its currency hit the local exchange markets today, with country risk nearing 900-point barrier.

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.

AS I SEE IT

Things are looking up for Macri

03-08-2019 10:53 The Kirchnerite ‘project,’ insofar as one exists, is almost entirely negative. Macri’s may be unappealing, but at least it is positive.

by James Neilson

ELECTION 2019

Polls show race is neck-and-neck going into primaries

03-08-2019 09:52 Polls in Argentina show a very close, polarised race between President Mauricio Macri and opposition candidate Alberto Fernández before next week’s August 11 primary vote.

KEY STORIES

July 29th-Aug 4th: What We Learned This Week

03-08-2019 09:16 A pick of some of the stories making the headlines in the last seven days.

ELECTION 2019

Stolbizer joins forces with Lavagna's Consenso Federal in PASO run-up

31-07-2019 10:17 Former national deputy and GEN leader campaigned Tuesday with Consenso Federal candidate Eduardo Bucca.

ELECTION 2019

New poll: Macri and Vidal trail opponents among voters in BA province

24-07-2019 14:06 Synopsis survey of 1,390 voters in Buenos Aires Province places Macri 8.6 points behind Fernández, with Governor Vidal 1.8 points behind challenger Axel Kicillof.

ELECTION 2019

Axel Kicillof dismisses labels, takes aim at critics in sweeping interview

22-07-2019 09:31 Candidate to become Buenos Aires Province governor denies he was ever part of a 'Trotskyist or Marxist' party in interview with Perfil's Jorge Fontevecchia.

GREATER BUENOS AIRES

The megalopolis of the metropolis

13-07-2019 09:50 Greater Buenos Aires is relatively new as a factor in Argentine history. It can be described as really coming into its own with the 1960 census, which for the first time recorded more people as living beyond the city limits as within them – four million as against three million in an Argentina of 20 million people.

by Michael Soltys

MONEY & POWER

What Washington and Wall Street really think about Argentina and Macri

13-07-2019 09:21 If the Fernández-Fernández ticket takes a six to seven percentage-point lead over the Macri-Pichetto duo in the PASOs, investors will run for the hills.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

KEY STORIES

June 24th-30th: What We Learned This Week?

29-06-2019 11:08 What has caught our eye the last seven days?

ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH

Electoral slates in, time to go to the shrink

22-06-2019 10:29 More broadly, the political establishment would also need to explain why the country has to vote in a primary in August in which none of the presidential candidacies competing in.

by Marcelo J. Garcia