Argentina President Alberto Fernandez warned against a sharp devaluation of the country’s currency as expectations mount that his soon-to-be-elected successor will have no other choice to address a chronic dollar shortage, Bloomberg reported. “An abrupt devaluation would be a problem for Argentina,” Fernandez said during an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Maria Tadeo in Brussels, where he is attending a summit of leaders from Latin America and Europe. He made no mention that a currency move he characterized as “very damaging” was imminent.
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Argentines are tightening their wallets to make end meets as the South American country battles inflation which could surpass 140% on an annual basis this year, hunting for the cheapest prices on basic goods to shield their income, Reuters reported. The national statistics office INDEC is set to release the country's June inflation figure later on Thursday. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the rate of rising prices to slow to 7.0% in June from 7.8% the previous month.
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Argentina's monthly inflation rate is expected to slow to 7.0% in June, according to the median forecast in a Reuters poll, after hitting 7.8% in May, as the government battles to control spiraling prices ahead of elections in October, Reuters reported. The poll of 23 analysts measures inflation by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), with estimates ranging from 6.6% to 7.8%.
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Argentina’s central bank expects to hold its benchmark interest rate at 97% through the August primary elections as officials estimate monthly inflation slowed in June, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg News reported. Central bank officials expect monthly price increases slowed to less than 7% last month, justifying the rate hike pause, according to the people, who asked not to be named to discuss upcoming policy decisions.
The International Monetary Fund said on Friday that Argentina is current in its payment obligations, and the government said it made a $2.7 billion payment to the fund using its existing stock of the IMF's reserve assets, and Chinese currency, Reuters reported. Argentina's economy ministry said through a spokesman the June payments were made "without using dollars" but the country's holdings of the fund's special-drawing rights (SDRs) and Chinese yuan. The operation, which depleted Argentina's $1.6 billion in SDRs, underscores how desperate the country's dollar position has become.
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Argentina will make scheduled payments totaling some $1.9 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday, an economy ministry source said, Reuters reported. The South American country is in talks with the IMF to revamp its $44 billion loan program with the lender as it battles with dwindling foreign currency reserves, a weak peso currency and annual inflation over 100%. Argentina has $2.7 billion due to the fund this month alone.
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Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have a $44 billion dilemma, with the two sides set to meet for crunch talks to revamp the country's huge, wobbling debt deal, key to avoiding default on billions in looming debt payments, Reuters reported. The South American country, a serial defaulter that has struggled for years with inflation and currency crises, struck a $57 billion loan deal with the IMF in 2018, which failed and was replaced last year with a new $44 billion program.
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Argentina's annual inflation rate topped 114% in May, but in a silver lining for the embattled South American country the monthly rise came in well below analyst forecasts and posted a surprise slowdown versus a peak the month before, Reuters reported. The monthly rise in the consumer price index (CPI) clocked in at 7.8%, the country's statistics agency said on Wednesday, well below analyst estimates of an 8.9% increase and under the 8.4% posted in April, the largest monthly rise in decades.
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Argentina's monthly inflation rate likely sped up to 8.8% in May, according to analysts polled by Reuters, as prices in the South America country continue to soar despite a cooling trend in other countries around the region, Reuters reported. Argentina is battling soaring inflation likely to end the year near 150%, sapping people's spending power, pummeling the peso currency and pulling the rug out from under the ruling Peronist coalition ahead of October elections. That's one of the highest rates in the world and the fastest annual reading for the major grains exporter since 1991.
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A deal to rescue one of the biggest suppliers of soybean meal fed to livestock herds around the world is at risk of falling apart because of court delays and Argentina’s worst drought in living memory, Bloomberg News reported. The bankruptcy of Vicentin SAIC more than three years ago upended oilseed trading in Argentina, the top exporting nation of meal and of soy oil used in food and biofuels. After a tumultuous default that featured a botched nationalization and accusations of fraud by international lenders, Vicentin finally seemed to have secured its future.
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