Argentina

Argentina’s new Economy Minister Silvina Batakis vowed to continue the government’s economic plans, in a bid to stem a market plunge following a weekend filled with political turmoil in the crisis-prone nation, Bloomberg News reported. In her first words since taking over for her predecessor Martin Guzman, who suddenly resigned Saturday, Batakis sought to reassure the public she wouldn’t overhaul economic policy. “I believe in a balanced budget,” Batakis told the press in Buenos Aires after being sworn in Monday evening, without taking questions.

Argentina's monthly inflation clocked in at 5.1% in May, still painfully high but below expectations and slower than the two previous months as the South American grains producer battles to bring down consumer prices, Reuters reported. That was below the median forecast of 5.2% that local and foreign analysts polled by Reuters gave. The rate was 6% in April and a year-high 6.7% in March. The annual inflation rate, however, is expected to top 70% by the end of the year.

Argentina's benchmark interest rate is likely to be hiked another 200 basis points next week, analysts polled by Reuters estimated, as the central bank seeks to counter soaring and painful inflation that could top 70% this year, Reuters reported. The survey of seven analysts and traders indicated the bank would likely hike the rate to 51% from its current level of 49%, according to a median of the responses. The estimates ranged from no change to a steepest hike of 350 basis points.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday it had reached a staff-level agreement on an updated macroeconomic framework with Argentine authorities, allowing the country access to about $4.03 billion, Reuters reported.

A senior official in Argentina charged with leading government efforts to tame sky-high inflation resigned on Monday due to differences over how to contain steadily creeping prices, which have hobbled the country's economy, Reuters reported. Annual inflation in the South American nation reached 58% in April, as many food and energy prices surged in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with some analysts predicting consumer prices will jump 70% later this year.

Argentine economy minister Martin Guzman said late on Friday that a $45 billion debt deal with the International Monetary Fund will not be modified, following a meeting with IMF head Kristalina Georgieva, Reuters reported. "We are not going to change the goals of the program with the IMF," Guzman told local media. The South American country's center-left Peronist government led by President Alberto Fernandez struck a staff-level agreement with the international lender at the beginning of March to avoid a default.

Argentina’s inflation rate galloped to its fastest pace in March since 2002, challenging a strategy by the government’s to cool prices that already lacked support from within the ruling coalition, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 6.7% last month compared to February, the highest level since Argentina was in one of its worst economic crises 20 years ago. Inflation reached 55.1% from a year ago, the highest annual level of President Alberto Fernandez’s presidency and most since June 2019. Both results were above all forecasts among economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Argentina’s economy contracted in January as a surge in coronavirus cases due to the omicron variant weighed on industrial manufacturing, Bloomberg News reported. Economic activity in January fell 0.5% from the prior month, better than analysts’ median estimate for a 1.0% contraction. From a year ago, the economy expanded 5.4% in the first month of the year, according to government data published Tuesday.

Argentina’s government published on Friday the detailed plan for reducing its fiscal deficit and central bank financing as part of its pending $45 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. The agreement with IMF staff, announced Thursday, has now been submitted to Argentina’s congress and will go before a vote sometime in the coming weeks. The country will receive 7 billion ($9.8 billion) of the IMF’s special drawing rights upon approval by lawmakers and the executive board of the Washington-based organization, according to the document.

Argentina’s economy capped a strong second half of growth as it emerged from a long recession last year ahead of an expected new deal in the coming weeks with the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. Economic activity in December rose 0.9% from the prior month, in line with economists’ expectations. From a year ago, the economy expanded 9.8% in the final month of the year, according to government data published Wednesday. The annual figure was below expectations for an 11% gain. In December, tourism and transportation posted the largest annual gains.