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
Argentina is continuing to work with the International Monetary Fund on a deal to restructure US$ 44 billion in debt owed to the multilateral lender, President Alberto Fernández said Thursday. The Peronist leader delivered the remark via a post on Twitter, following a video call with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva. “This morning I had a … Read more
In the 99 years since it was founded to pump the oil fields of Patagonia, Argentina’s energy driller YPF SA has been whipsawed by countless booms and busts. If global oil markets weren’t collapsing, it seemed, then Argentina was mired in a debt crisis that was wreaking havoc on the whole nation’s finances. Never, though, … Read more
THE WEEK IN CORONAVIRUS Argentina crossed the grim threshold of 45,000 deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday to close the week at 45,227 deaths and 1,783,047 confirmed cases of contagion since last March. The latest stage of quarantine (still not defined at press time for last Saturday’s edition) ended up delegating new restrictions to the provinces … Read more
Donald Trump departs Washington on Wednesday with US citizens more politically divided and more likely to be out of work than when he arrived, while awaiting trial for his second impeachment – an ignominious end to one of the most turbulent presidencies in American history. Trump intends to leave in the morning for his Mar-a-Lago club … Read more
With a reform of the health system in the air, CGT trade unionists on Tuesday warned about the future of their obras sociales healthcare schemes, even hinting at a possible strike at the end of the month. The CGT, Argentina’s main trade union confederation, held an emergency meeting at the headquarters of the UPCN civil … Read more
Investment firms including Oaktree Capital Management and BlackRock Inc. are organising into two groups to negotiate with YPF SA after the Argentine oil producer proposed a debt swap that would saddle them with losses, according to people familiar with the matter. BlackRock is among a consortium of experienced emerging-market investors such as Ashmore Group Plc … Read more