Argentina’s inflation sped up more than expected in January as price controls prove ineffective, further complicating the government’s strategy ahead of presidential elections later this year, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 98.8% from a year earlier, more than the 98.6% median forecast from economists in a Bloomberg survey. Prices gained 6% from December, the second straight month of faster increases, according to government data published Tuesday. Higher costs of recreation, housing and communication propelled increases in January on a monthly basis.

Cut off from global credit markets, Argentina’s government is selling ever more local currency bonds, amassing a debt load that already totals 33 trillion pesos ($174 billion) and is rising almost exponentially, Bloomberg News reported. In one week, the Treasury will seek to roll over 300 billion pesos of debt, offering higher interest rates and shorter maturities to entice investors as they have in each of the previous four months.

Three months after crypto exchange FTX collapsed, Argentina’s government is weighing creating oversight requirements on crypto companies, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s local regulator, known as the CNV, is studying launching requirements on crypto companies, such as proof of solvency, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing the plans. The CNV is planning as it awaits a congressional vote that could give it oversight authority of the crypto sector in coming weeks. “The regulation will focus on exchanges, not tokens.

Argentina’s plan to repurchase $1 billion of overseas bonds meets the definition for a default, according to Moody’s Investors Service, Bloomberg News reported. The credit assessor sees the nation’s strategy of buying back short-dated dollar bonds — primarily those due in 2029 and 2030 — through direct market purchases as tantamount to a “distressed exchange and hence a default under our definition,” Moody’s analysts including Jaime Reusche wrote in a note. Moody’s still scores Argentina at Ca, the second-lowest rating. It has a stable outlook on the nation.

Brazil and Argentina will sign a bilateral agreement creating a guarantee fund to stimulate Brazilian exports, a Brazilian government source said on Monday, as officials from both governments meet for a summit in Buenos Aires, Reuters reported.

Argentina and Brazil are in the preliminary stages of renewing discussions on forming a common currency for financial and commercial transactions, reviving an often-discussed plan that would face numerous political and economic hurdles, Bloomberg News reported. South America’s two largest economies have considered options to coordinate their currencies for decades, often to counter the influence of the dollar in the region. The persistent macroeconomic imbalances of both countries, together with recurrent political obstacles to the idea, has resulted in little practical progress.

Argentina’s plan to repurchase $1 billion of its deeply distressed dollar bonds has emerging-market investors scratching their heads, according to a Bloomberg News commentary. Economy Minister Sergio Massa announced the plan Wednesday to buy back securities maturing in 2029 and 2030 trading at 30-some cents on the dollar. The notes jumped to their highest prices in more than a year after Massa spoke, extending a rally that had already produced 60% returns for investors since October.

Argentina’s international bonds leaped to their highest in more than a year after the government said it planned to repurchase about $1 billion of the debt, surprising investors in the cash-strapped country, Bloomberg News reported. The South American nation’s $16.1 billion in overseas bonds due 2030 rose as much as 3.2 cents to more than 36 cents on the dollar, the highest since October 2021, before paring gains. It is those bonds, plus ones maturing in 2029, that the government plans to buy back, Economy Minister Sergio Massa said Wednesday, without giving details.

Argentina and China have formalized the expansion of a currency swap deal, allowing the South American country to increase its depleted foreign currency reserves, the Argentine central bank said on Sunday, Reuters reported. Argentina's government needs to rebuild reserves to cover trade costs and future debt repayments, and more reserves are a key objective of a major debt deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). President Alberto Fernandez announced the deal in November last year and said at the time it was worth $5 billion.