Blue Dollar As last year drew to a close, a strike by soy-crushing workers that had lasted most of December, crippling agro-industrial exports was settled. This week, world soy prices topped US$ 500 per ton – the highest since 2014. However, a new cloud now looms on the rural horizon over another crop – a farm stoppage … Read more
With classroom education dead in the water all last year save the odd hinterland rural school and with teacher unions threatening this new year by making the perfect the enemy of the good in demanding blanket vaccination among other protocols before returning to work, why is a drastic educational reform not given the same prominence … Read more
Maize in a maze would be as good a way as any of describing the government’s slapdash suspension of corn exports early in this new year, only to retreat before mid-January in the face of a fairly toothless farm stoppage – with so much lockdown, we can do without lockout. At first sight this futile … Read more
More than half the world’s nations failed to submit upgraded commitments by year’s end to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, straggling behind the schedule of accelerated climate ambitions set out in the Paris Agreement. Almost every country on the planet signed up to the 2015 Paris deal, which calls for capping global warming at “well … Read more
The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean on Wednesday slashed its projection for the region’s GDP fall for 2020 from 9.1 to 7.7 percent. ECLAC said the gradual reopening of economies shut down to combat the coronavirus pandemic and financial help for families and businesses, especially in the region’s largest economy Brazil, … Read more
Shunned in global financial markets, Argentina is seeking about US$ 5 billion for next year from multilateral organisations other than the International Monetary Fund as it negotiates a larger refinancing programme with the Washington-based lender, according to three people familiar with the plans. Alberto Fernández’s administration is looking to institutions including the Inter-American Development Bank … Read more
A strike that’s snarled Argentina’s soybean industry will continue during the Christmas holidays, further delaying 170 ships currently waiting at ports. Soybean crushers at export plants agreed to extend a strike over wages during the Christmas season, according to a statement on the website of union group Federacion Aceitera. The strike, which has been going … Read more
This fourth edition of our annual review, compiled entirely from material from this newspaper, appears for the first time at the start of January rather than the end of December, thus looking back through the rear mirror at a year most people will want to leave behind. We can all agree that 2020 needs little … Read more
YPF SA plans to sell its iconic office tower in the heart of Buenos Aires as Argentina’s state oil company looks to boost resources to continue drilling amid an industry slowdown, according to a person familiar with the matter. The value of the 33-story glass-clad tower, from which executives enjoy panoramic views of the Río … Read more
The government on Saturday published a decree proposing the setting of limits on the movement of people and nighttime activities, part of a move to lower Covid-19 infections in Argentina. As previously reported, the filing in the Official Gazette did not lay out a specific timeframe, leaving it up to provincial and regional leaders to … Read more