News of rate

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.

FINANCIAL TURMOIL

Economy Ministry to halt Central Bank advances until end of 2020

03-11-2020 12:53 Economy Ministry says it will not ask the Central Bank for temporary advances of cash in November and December and would target local capital markets for financing instead.

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.

Global pandemic

Up to 150 million could join extreme poor, warns World Bank

07-10-2020 15:40 Up to 150 million people could slip into extreme poverty, living on less than US$1.90 a day, by late next year, says World Bank.

Bloomberg

Government to devalue peso faster while it fights reserves drop

01-10-2020 23:09 The Central Bank will end a policy of “uniform devaluation” and allow greater volatility, according to a statement sent by the institution led by Miguel Pesce after hours Thursday.

Poverty

Pandemic’s impact laid bare as poverty rises to 40.9%

30-09-2020 19:33 INDEC national statistics bureau says poverty rose to 40.9 percent in the first half of year, with more than 18 million people in Argentina considered poor.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Unemployment in Argentina rises to 16-year high of 13.1%

23-09-2020 19:37 Joblessness rose to 13.1% in the second quarter of the year, INDEC reveals, revealed Wednesday, pushed higher by economic turmoil and the coronavirus pandemic.

Bloomberg

Argentines are abandoning a trade that hedged currency risk

14-09-2020 16:02 Dollar-linked instruments in the local market are being abandoned amid speculation government will create a weaker parallel exchange rate while giving investors less favourable terms.

Coronavirus pandemic

Argentina’s Covid outbreak worsens with 47% of tests positive

01-09-2020 15:39 Almost 47% of people tested for coronavirus in Argentina get a positive result back. The WHO suggests nations push the rate below 5% for several weeks before reopening their economies.

Bloomberg

Negative-yielding corporate bonds are all the rage in Argentina

30-07-2020 14:21 Argentine companies issued a record US$596 million of dollar-linked bonds domestically in the past two months, and about a third now pay negative yields. Investors, nevertheless, are lapping them up.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Inflation reached 1.5% in May, second straight month under 2%

12-06-2020 01:20 Inflation rate for the last 12 months now totals 43.4%, with a rise of 11.1 percent recorded in the first five months of the year so far.

PROTESTS AGAINST RACISM

Trump: US job numbers make it for a 'great day' for George Floyd

06-06-2020 09:52 Eleven days after Floyd's death while handcuffed in the custody of Minneapolis police, Trump said such violence can't be allowed to happen.

Fight against virus

Crisis lending surges as government obliges banks to assist

02-04-2020 16:47 Credit lending is making a comeback in Argentina as the country seeks to flood its streets with pesos to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

35.5% of Argentines were living in poverty at end of 2019, says INDEC

01-04-2020 23:01 Some 16 million people were considered to be living below the poverty line at the end of 2019, according to official data published Tuesday.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Unemployment rate dropped to 8.9% in last quarter of 2019

27-03-2020 00:01 Argentina's unemployment rate fell in the fourth quarter of 2019, the INDEC national statistics bureau revealed Thursday, adding that underemployment rose.

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.

Coronavirus outbreak

European Central Bank fires off stimulus to counter virus 'shock'

12-03-2020 12:38 European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde warns coronavirus will deliver a "major shock" to global economy that requires urgent, coordinated action.

Bloomberg

Brazil's Central Bank will intervene 'as long as needed' to support real

09-03-2020 13:49 The Brazilian Central Bank pledged to support its tumbling currency with all instruments and for as long as needed just as it stepped heavily into the spot market for the first time this year.

Interest rate cuts

Central Bank will continue lowering rates to curb inflation

04-03-2020 17:00 Central Bank plans to keep reducing its key interest rates further as inflation is expected to decelerate and as a tool to reduce debt costs.

VIRUS outbreak

Fed cuts half point in emergency move in reaction to Coronavirus

03-03-2020 14:54 US Federal Reserve announces emergency rate cut, responding to the growing economic risk posed by the coronavirus epidemic and giving President Trump the stimulus he has called for.

Bloomberg

Paraguay set for economic rebound after recession

14-01-2020 16:04 Central Bank chief says Paraguay's economy will expand 4.1% as a broad recovery spanning agriculture to industry takes hold.

Penitentiary system

Argentina's prison population grew 55% over last six years

29-11-2019 07:00 Number of those incarcerated grew by 55% between 2013 and 2019, reaching a total of more than 63,000 people, new data shows. Significant rise in figures under Macri administration.

EXCHANGE MARKETS

Tensions in exchange markets intensify ahead of election

24-10-2019 14:29 Peso selling at 62 per US dollar on official markets, reaching as high as 69 per greenback in Córdoba.

POVERTY

UCA predicts poverty rate will reach '39% or 40%' by end of 2019

01-10-2019 13:34 Head of Catholic University's influential Social Debt Observatory issues warning after INDEC data published Monday showed 35.4% of Argentines are considered poor.

ECONOMIC TURMOIL AFTER PASO ELECTION

Peso closes almost 20% weaker against dollar after chaotic week

17-08-2019 11:32 Abittersweet close to a week of unprecedented market turbulence fell short of turning Black Monday into Good Friday – both the exchange rate and country risk were below the week’s peaks at 57 pesos and 1,656 points respectively as the long weekend finally kicked in yesterday. But the rebound, as the week closed off, was accompanied by a steep double downgrade.