Blue Dollar Argentina’s government has extended the closure of its borders, extending a decree that prohibits non-resident foreigners from entering the country until the end of this month without special dispensation. The decree – published in the Official Gazette on Monday and signed by Cabinet Chief Santiago Cafiero, Interior Minister Eduardo ‘Wado’ de Pedro and Health Minister … Read more
The International Monetary Fund raised its forecast for global growth this year, betting the rollout of coronavirus vaccines and more fiscal stimulus will offset the immediate challenge posed by the resurgent pandemic. Global gross domestic product will soar 5.5 percent this year, faster than the 5.2 percent projected in October, the Fund said Tuesday. It credited … Read more
Argentina’s 2020 trade volume was US$ 97.24 billion, 14.9 percent down from the previous year, but with a trade surplus of US$ 12.528 billion, the INDEC statistics bureau reported on Tuesday. December weighed in with the only trade deficit of the year, US$ 364 million from exports of US$ 3.544 billion and imports of US$ … Read more
The International Monetary Fund has trimmed its 2021 growth forecast for Argentina, predicting the economy will grow by 4.5 percent this year. Previously, the multilateral lender had estimated growth of 4.9 percent this year, but the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and the fiscal constraints facing the country persuaded IMF officials to lower their forecast. … Read more
Soybean meal exports from Argentina, the world’s largest supplier of the cattle feed, are recovering strongly after labour strikes decimated soybean processing in December. So far this month until Wednesday, 2.16 million metric tons of flour have been shipped from the main ports, according to data from the Argentine shipping agency Alpemar. That figure exceeds … Read more
Economic activity contracted 3.7 percent in November 2020 year-on-year, the INDEC national statistics bureau revealed Tuesday. The data means that activity slumped by 10.6 percent in the first 11 months of 2020, when compared to 2019, mainly as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. However, activity did rise 1.4 percent in November from the previous … Read more
Argentina’s fiscal deficit skyrocketed last year to its highest since at least 1993, as the pandemic forced the government to increase social spending. The primary deficit, which excludes interest payments, rose to 6.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2020 from 0.4 percent a year earlier, the government said on Wednesday. With debt payments included, … Read more
Argentina will not need a new version of the Ingreso Familiar de Emergencia (IFE) scheme, implemented last year during the coronavirus pandemic, a senior government official has told Bloomberg. The government is working from a base scenario in which restrictions on the circulation of citizens will not be restricted nationwide, as was the case last … Read more
THE WEEK IN CORONAVIRUS There were 1,853,830 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 46,575 deaths at press time yesterday as against 1,783,047 cases and 45,227 deaths the previous Friday. One of those fatalities was Juan Carlos Copes, 89 – the veteran tango performer who spread the fame of the dance worldwide – during last weekend. On … Read more
A one-of-its-kind plan to tax the wind in Argentina has drawn scorn from clean-energy companies, who say the move threatens climate-change goals that are already looking unattainable from Latin America to Asia. Puerto Madryn, a city on the Atlantic coast where gusts are coveted by wind developers like Genneia SA, wants to tax the megawatts … Read more