Argentina

Argentina's economy has many problems, and dealing with a mountain of debt repayments over the next two years could determine whether the new government's economic road map succeeds, Reuters reported. The country's total sovereign debt exceeds $400 billion, some $110 billion of which is owed to the International Monetary Fund and to holders of restructured, privately-held eurobonds. With central bank reserves in the red by more than $10 billion and little chance of tapping the market, the country has some $16 billion in debt payments coming due next year.

Argentina's new government will lay out its economic "shock" therapy plans on Tuesday afternoon in a bid to rein in triple-digit inflation and rebuild depleted foreign currency reserves, with markets and ordinary Argentines on tenterhooks about the impact, Reuters reported. Economy Minister Luis Caputo will announce the measures after markets close around 5 p.m. (2000 GMT), the spokesman for libertarian President Javier Milei, who took office on Sunday, told a news conference.

Argentina's consumer prices likely spiked around 12% in November alone, a Reuters poll of analysts showed on Monday, which will be the first monthly inflation data under the government of new libertarian President Javier Milei, Reuters reported. The South American country, which swore in its new government on Sunday, is battling triple-digit annual inflation already at 143% and climbing fast. Milei has said he will fight "tooth and nail" to bring inflation down. The Reuters poll of 22 analysts gave a median estimate of the CPI rising 11.9% in November, up from 8.3% in October.

Argentina’s central bank limited the amount of foreign currency the nation’s commercial lenders can hold, in a push to discourage US dollar hoarding ahead of an expected devaluation by President-elect Javier Milei after his Sunday inauguration, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s central bank said that holdings may not be greater than the lowest amount recorded between Oct. 12 and Dec. 6, according to a rule published on its website Thursday. The measure — announced on the last business day of the current administration — goes into effect immediately and is valid until the end of the year.

Argentine President-elect Javier Milei arrived in the U.S. on Monday for a trip to New York and Washington that will include meetings with the International Monetary Fund and Biden administration officials, as well as former President Bill Clinton, as he looks to shore up support for the nation’s crisis-torn economy, Bloomberg News reported. Milei will meet with President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and US Treasury officials, according to press offices from the US and Argentina.

Argentina’s anarcho-capitalist president-elect is right that the country desperately needs dollars. But his economic plan for getting them may be the wrong one, the Wall Street Journal reported. Javier Milei’s victory over Economy Minister Sergio Massa in Sunday’s presidential election showed how eager Argentines are to embrace change. The economy is in tatters, with inflation running at 143%.

Consumer prices in Argentina rose last month at their fastest pace since the country was exiting hyperinflation more than three decades ago, highlighting the dire state of the economy ahead of Sunday’s presidential election, Bloomberg News reported. Prices rose 8.3% in October on a monthly basis, a notch below September’s figure and less than the 9.45% median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Annual inflation accelerated to 142.7%, according to official government data published Monday, also slightly below projections. Argentines will choose their next president on Nov.

The International Monetary Fund has hardened its view on how Argentina is running a $44 billion loan programme that has gone off track ahead of the country's key presidential vote later in November, Reuters reported. The IMF's board of executive directors met in a previously unreported meeting on Oct. 30 for an informal briefing on Argentina by the Fund's staff, as the South American nation is battling triple-digit inflation and with net reserves in the red in the run-up to the presidential vote.

Argentina urged a U.S. judge not to enforce a $16.1 billion judgment arising from the government's 2012 seizure of a majority control in state-controlled oil company YPF, while the cash-strapped country appeals the judgment, Reuters reported. In a Thursday night filing with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Argentina said enforcing the "truly overwhelming" judgment or requiring that it post bond would "cripple a nation already suffering from severe inflation and drought." Two investors, Petersen Energia and Eton Park Capital Management, sued, and last month U.S.

Zimbabwe gave up its unenviable position of having the world’s highest interest rate to Argentina, after slashing borrowing costs to help boost economic growth, Bloomberg News reported. The monetary policy committee cut the benchmark interest rate to 130% from 150%, which lags Argentina’s 133%. The MPC acted because of “emerging global risks and the need to keep exchange rate and inflation expectations anchored to support economic growth,” Governor John Mangudya said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.