Why the informal dollar broke records this week
The informal or “blue” dollar has skyrocketed to a record-breaking AR$359, its highest nominal value ever recorded. The Economy Ministry believes the leap is being driven by demand from small savers buying greenbacks in preparation for the upcoming tax amnesty, as well as seasonal demand. Moreover, this week’s hike wasn’t caused by a political or an economical crisis, but rather seasonal fluctuations and the upcoming tax agreement with the US. To further illustrate this point, the sources add that the informal dollar also rose during August’s “construction amnesty law”, which created a framework to encourage tax evaders to invest in housing. For now, this variation is only reflected in the informal dollar, not the financial exchange rates.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 28, 2022 23:30 UTC
“Sur”: the project for a common currency between Argentina and Brazil
Negotiations are moving forward with the main trading partner to create a common currency without eliminating the peso or the real. Bilateral meetings will be held on January 25 to “oil” the mechanism. The main focus was the creation of a common currency. The concept is different from a single currency because it does not include abolishing either country’s national currency. The future president of Brazil is expected to participate and even communicate his decision to reintegrate Brazil into the bloc currently chaired by Alberto Fernández.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 27, 2022 22:43 UTC
Government extends price agreement program until December 2023
The Economy Ministry established this Monday that the commercial agreement underpinning current price caps will remain in force until December 2023. The “Precios Justos” (Fair Prices) program, which was implemented in November, froze the value of 1,907 products and set a maximum monthly price rise of 4% for 30,000 other items until February 28, 2023. This month, fuels were added to the program, and will be subject to the 4% monthly price increase limit. Economy Minister Sergio Massa said the government hoped that monthly inflation would be around 3% by April, adding that he was “still not satisfied”. That would likely mean renegotiating the maximum monthly price increases, currently set at 4%, to ensure they remained below inflation.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 27, 2022 21:23 UTC
Tax share battle: BA City government rejects Fernández bond offer
President Alberto Fernández said on Monday that the national government would pay federal tax revenues to Buenos Aires city government in the form of bonds. However, Buenos Aires city government said in a statement on Monday afternoon that it would not accept the proposal. Fernández reiterated that he believed the Supreme Court ruling from last week was “flawed” and damaged the state’s finances. The city government of Buenos Aires appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which determines judicial and political decisions’ constitutionality. Buenos Aires’ Juntos por el Cambio administration celebrated, and Horacio Rodriguez Larreta announced he would cut taxes as a result of the measure.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 27, 2022 06:31 UTC
IACHR visits Peru as dozens die in protests over Castillo impeachment
Castillo had attempted to dissolve Peru’s congress and rule the country by decree just hours before a scheduled impeachment vote on corruption charges, a move widely regarded as a self-coup. Castillo was succeeded in office by his Vice President Dina Boluarte, who has become Peru’s first woman president. Castillo is currently in pre-trial detention on charges of rebellion and conspiracy, where he has been visited by the IACHR. On Tuesday, Peru’s congress voted to bring elections forward to April 2024, with 91 of the legislature’s 130 members backing the plan. Castillo’s impeachment comes at a time of ongoing instability for Peru: the Andean country has now had six presidents since March 2018.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 24, 2022 07:26 UTC
Rodríguez Larreta: “Democracy is at stake”
Earlier on Friday, Rodríguez Larreta said he will report to the Court that their ruling has not been followed, and will file complaints against all the politicians involved. The city government of Buenos Aires appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which determines judicial and political decisions’ constitutionality. Earlier this week, the Court ruled that the federal government must increase the percentage to 2.95%. Buenos Aires’ Juntos por el Cambio administration celebrated, and Horacio Rodriguez Larreta announced he would cut taxes as a result of the measure. As both Horacio Rodrguez Larreta and Alberto Fernández have declared their intentions to run for president in 2023, the Supreme Court’s ruling could be interpreted as support for the current mayor of Buenos Aires.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
December 24, 2022 07:26 UTC
Two sides of the coin
At present, by the date that students complete high school, 95 percent have taken complementary classes in private academies. I do not propose to replicate the experience of South Korea in Argentina. South Korea also heads the suicide rankings among young people because of the tremendous pressure young people are subjected to there. But there are very few countries in the world in which there is no evaluation at the end of high school or another one, in order to enter university. In the words of Guadagni: “Argentina is the Latin American country with the largest university population, 435 students per 10,000 inhabitants.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 17:02 UTC
Candidates take a back seat to key Congress vote, Macri at large
Ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner also engages in low-level campaigning for a Senate seat in Buenos Aires province — indeed her son Máximo is more visible around Greater Buenos Aires. Running for the Workers’ Leftist Front, Néstor Pitrola descends on the Atlantic coast and highlights the dangers facing workers’ rights. Meanwhile her boss President Macri joins Buenos Aires province Governor María Eugenia Vidal in the Greater Buenos Aires district of Tres de Febrero — unsurprisingly, they make Metrobus part of their mobility. Finally, fortune smiles on Randazzo — electoral courts challenge the validity of Peronist rival Mario Ishii’s list. CFK’s senatorial running-mate Jorge Taiana complements her overtures to small business by joining auto workers in San Martín.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 17:02 UTC
Red card or red faces?
Friday, July 28, 2017 Red card or red faces? As widely forecast, the Chamber of Deputies fell short of the two-thirds majority required to expel Julio De Vido from its ranks this week. Expelling a member who has yet to be convicted (he faces trial on three counts) would be a dangerous precedent which could threaten democracy. De Vido might be an easy target but if the vote total is all that matters, this could become a dangerous and extremely arbitrary precedent for excluding parliamentary minorities. The doubts here lie not with “Duvidoso” (reportedly the ex-minister’s nickname in Brazil) but with what matters most to the Macri government — institutional integrity or electoral opportunism?
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC
LANATA DENIED ENTRY
Friday, July 28, 2017 LANATA DENIED ENTRYJournalist Jorge Lanata was denied entry to Venezuela and subsequently deported to Panama yesterday, prompting the Chargé d’affaires Eduardo Porretti to step in. Lanata indicated that he had been travelling to Venezuela ahead of Sunday’s elections for the Constituent Assembly — apparently without the due press visa — and had been denied entry and interrogated by armed officers. Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie expressed his “displeasure”.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC
High-flying vultures
First came the Spanish state flag carrier Iberia, then American Airlines and as from 2001, again Spanish capital with Marsans. Restored to state hands, Aerolíneas recovered markets and routes with notable success but ended up struggling with costly burdens and overmanning which persist to this day. Rather than an error, a rushed and botched nationalisation to take this state company out of corrupt hands (those of Marsans) looks like complicity. As a result, the vulture fund buying into the Marsans claim will pocket almost half that US$ 320 million. All justifying one description of Argentina which might sound like the highest praise but is usually a put-down — “a generous country.”
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC
Latam in brief
Friday, July 28, 2017 Latam in briefBudget trippled for Brazil corruption probeRIO DE JANEIRO — The Brazilian Attorney-General’s Office has tripled its 2018 budget for a probe of a sprawling corruption scandal that has engulfed political and business leaders across Latin America. Federal prosecutors decided this week to boost spending on the so-called Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato) investigation from US$165 million initially allotted in January to more than US$500 million. The probe could get an additional US$165 million later this year, though that is not certain. Martínez said criminal charges for money-laundering would be filed against two Brazilian citizens, one Portuguese and three Colombians. Seven people, including a former senator and a former deputy minister of transport, have been jailed for involvement in the corruption scandal.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC
Your View
Yet, a few weeks ago a reader wrote a letter criticising me, saying I was in denial for rejecting the 30,000 disappeared claim. I have three news items confirming that is where the 30,000 disappeared figure came from. The moment someone questions the 30,000 figure, human rights organisations, leftists and populist politicians protest. To conclude, the CONADEP 8,961 disappeared figure is not 100 percent correct, but is the best we have. My opinion: for much as I agree that the 30,000 figure catches people’s attention, the 8,961 figure is the figure ethical media should use.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC
Seven days
Mercosur meet-up, expropriation woes, stats, the dollar and De Vido Friday, July 28, 2017 Seven daysBy Michael Soltys / Senior EditorFRIDAY. The Mercosur summit in Mendoza stresses the Venezuelan crisis far more than any agenda of the four original members. MONDAY.Intense lobbying against Kirchnerite deputy Julio De Vido and a rising dollar set the tone for the week. INDEC statistics bureau posts 3.3 percent growth for May — the brightest figure it has announced during the Mauricio Macri presidency. Former Planning minister De Vido survives a 138-95 Lower House vote to oust him — short of the required two-thirds majority.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC
Double deficit
Yet this contrast between a clear-cut orthodoxy and a confused gradualism can also be exaggerated — the media spotlight tends to fall on an unsustainably high fiscal deficit which the Macri administration has yet to show any sign of significantly taming but most observers fail to notice that Central Bank policies have resulted in the accumulation of a formidable quasi-fiscal deficit. While a Central Bank in the red formed part of the Kirchnerite inheritance, the negative data for net assets have ballooned in the last 18 months. But these dollar reserves have been purchased at the price of printing pesos way beyond local demand which then need to be “sterilised” by issuing Lebacs and other bonds at inordinately high interest rates, thus causing Central Bank debt to double from 28-plus to over 58 billion dollars. Such issues not only contribute numerically to the quasi-fiscal deficit but are qualitatively bad for the economy since they crowd the private sector out of credit markets. The previous Kirchnerite administration notoriously sustained its fiscal deficit by draining the Central Bank in order to avoid debt (not really an option while default persisted) but Sturzenegger’s policies do not seem to be doing anything to improve solvency.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
July 28, 2017 16:52 UTC