News of subsidies

Subsidies slashed – sharp rises coming for more than four million households

17-08-2022 13:05 Government hopes to save US$3.2 billion in 2023 with partial removal of subsidies for electricity, gas and water services; New Energy Secretary Flavia Royón announces a plan to trim assistance for the wealthiest, starting September.

ANALYSIS

‘Three clear groups’ in new tariff segmentation plan, says analyst

17-08-2022 13:04 Fernando Krakowiak, a journalist and educator with EcoJournal, describes the government's plan as "tariff segmentation" with "three clear groups: people with low, medium and high incomes."

ECONOMY

Argentina plows ahead with utility-subsidy cuts key to IMF deal

16-08-2022 19:17 Plan is to impose the steepest increases on high earners and shield low-income users from the same treatment across gas, electric and water bills.

BLOOMBERG - ANALYSIS

Argentina needs to stick to IMF agreement, says minister

11-07-2022 15:32 In her first press conference, Silvina Batakis said Argentina would continue working to balance its fiscal accounts, promote positive real interest rates, and move forward with reducing energy subsidies.

THE CHALLENGES AHEAD

New minister Batakis takes office in an Argentina full of uncertainty

07-07-2022 23:34 Silvina Batakis faces a number of key challenges and decisions; Issues like inflation, the IMF deal, the fiscal deficit and subsidies top her in-tray.

NEW ECONOMY MINISTER

Inflation, export duties and IMF: Silvina Batakis’ economic definitions

06-07-2022 23:00 Martín Guzmán’s successor considers that the escalation of prices is a multi-causal phenomenon and defends strong state regulation of the economy. For her, “wages must run ahead of inflation.”

BLOOMBERG - ANALYSIS

Argentina's subsidy cuts mired in doubt under new minister

06-07-2022 22:14 Several analysts insist that a question mark hangs over Silvina Batakis’ commitment to spending cuts penned by Martín Guzmán and the IMF.

COLOMBIA ELECTIONS 2022

Jubilant Gustavo Petro elected Colombia's first leftist president

20-06-2022 14:35 Ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petro elected Colombia's first ever left-wing president after defeating millionaire businessman rival Rodolfo Hernández in run-off.

Latin America

Ex-guerrilla takes on maverick in race to be Colombia's president

18-06-2022 01:20 A former leftist guerrilla and a millionaire businessman will go head-to-head on Sunday hoping to become the new president of Colombia.

Colombia Election 2022

Colombians set to vote in high stakes presidential run-off

17-06-2022 18:22 Colombians vote Sunday in a presidential run-off. Opinion polls have leftist Gustavo Petro and businessman Rodolfo Hernández neck-and-neck.

COLOMBIA ELECTIONS 2022

Colombian outsider makes run-off with real shot at presidency

31-05-2022 11:18 Rodolfo Hernández, who was little known at the start of the year, surged into Colombia’s presidential run-off – and he now has a real chance at winning against leftist rival Gustavo Petro.

ECONOMY

Argentina to ‘take more time’ reducing energy subsidies

30-05-2022 16:16 Argentina will reduce energy subsidies for utility bills at a slower pace than anticipated because of higher costs stemming from the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

BLOOMBERG

Colombia’s number one banker has no fear of leftist front-runner

19-05-2022 08:00 Luis Carlos Sarmiento Gutiérrez would figure to be one of the people fretting the most about the looming election of the first left-wing leader in Colombia’s modern history. But, at least publicly, he betrays little angst about the outcome of the vote this month.

economy

Kirchnerites told to resign if they won’t approve gas, electricity hikes

13-05-2022 00:06 Challenging critical Kirchnerite voices, sources close to the Presidency said this week that any public official that opposes rises in utility prices “will not be able to continue in the government.”

WELFARE & POVERTY

Millions relying on food banks and soup kitchens as prices surge

29-04-2022 14:51 More than four million people depend on food banks and soup kitchens to eat in Argentina, and although the country has a well-oiled welfare network, the fight against high prices is tough and uncompromising.

Brazil election 2022

Cash handouts are saving Brazil’s poorest — and Bolsonaro’s campaign

18-04-2022 16:56 Jair Bolsonaro trails in polls for Brazil's upcoming presidential election. The outcome may hinge on government subsidies in a nation riven by inequality.

INTERVIEW / PERIODISMO PURO

Cecilia Todesca Bocco: ‘Labour rights do not explain Argentina’s macroeconomic problems'

18-03-2022 12:20 International Relations Secretary Cecilia Todesca Bocco on the freshly approved IMF deal, policies to deliver economic growth in Argentina and politics in the family.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

BLOOMBERG – ANALYSIS

IMF-backed subsidy cuts are boon to power producers

10-03-2022 18:10 Energy producers in Argentina are poised to fare best from the agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

IMF DEBT DEAL

IMF focus on saving Argentina from dangerous inflation path

04-02-2022 11:00 IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva says lessons have been learned from 2018 and that the Fund's "main focus" is to help Argentina tackle high inflation.

IMF DEBT DEAL

Curbing Argentina’s US$11-billion energy bill key for new IMF deal

28-01-2022 19:18 If the IMF deal is to succeed, the government will have to unwind a politically sensitive strategy of spending billions on energy subsidies.

BLOOMBERG – INTERVIEW

Colombia presidential front-runner Gustavo Petro seeks global anti-oil bloc

17-01-2022 06:59 Colombia’s presidential front-runner Gustavo Petro is calling on ideological allies across Latin America and the world to join him in forming a new bloc to lead the economy away from fossil fuels.

Bloomberg

Crypto mining booms on cheap, subsidised energy in Argentina

31-05-2021 10:41 Bitcoin miners are capitalising on the inefficiencies of the country’s interventionist economy to reap outsize returns, fuelled by memories of currency busts and powered by government-subsidised electricity.

INTERVIEW: PERIODISMO PURO

Luis Naidenoff: ‘Formosa is a model of oppression, domination and patronage’

20-03-2021 06:54 Leading Radical and Senate Minority Leader Luis Naidenoff on Formosa Province, Governor Gildo Insfrán and the Juntos por el Cambio coalition.