Argentina

The left is back in control in Argentina now that Alberto Fernandez has taken office as president, succeeding the pro-market Mauricio Macri. The Peronists may have returned with an orderly transition, but Fernandez faces an economic and financial crisis and is on a collision course with the IMF, The Conversation reported. This stems from the “turbulence” of April 2018, in which the peso devalued 11% against the US dollar in less than a week amid rampant inflation, a recession, high unemployment and wider worries about emerging markets within the global economy.

Argentine soy crushing giant Vicentin is struggling to repay over $350 million in debt and some plants are likely to halt production while it seeks relief amid an economic slowdown in the country, a source close to the firm said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The grains crusher, Argentina’s top exporter of processed soy last year according to government data, said it had been hurt by increasing financing costs and rising country risk, and was looking at how to meet its obligations.

Bondholders are gearing up for a nasty fight as Argentina’s largest province stares down a debt payment it may not be able to make, Bloomberg News reported. The Province of Buenos Aires will owe investors $571 million in January, and is unlikely to be able to come up with the cash amid a sharp devaluation in the currency and severe economic recession. The region has few dollar-generating industries, and tax revenue has dropped 14% in inflation-adjusted terms this year. Refinancing isn’t a realistic option amid plans by the federal government to restructure its debt.

Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernandez said on Thursday he did not want to fall short on debt obligations even as his government puts a premium on growth. Fernandez, who takes office on Dec. 10, will need to negotiate with creditors including the International Monetary Fund as Argentina buckles under the weight of about $100 billion in sovereign debt, KFGO reported. "I do not want to give haircuts to anybody, I do not want to stop paying what we owe," Fernandez said while speaking at an Argentine industrial chamber event in Buenos Aires.

Argentina’s President-elect Alberto Fernandez plans to hold debt negotiations with private bondholders and the International Monetary Fund at the same time as part of a strategy to obtain a better deal, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, Yahoo! Finance reported on a Bloomberg News story. Fernandez’s incoming government considers that holding simultaneous, yet separate, talks is likely to give Argentina more bargaining power, as well as the ability to adjust proposals on both ends, the person said. The negotiations are set to begin after Fernandez takes office Dec.

Several factions of Argentina's bondholders are jostling for influence ahead of restructuring talks with incoming president Alberto Fernandez as Latin America's third-largest economy tries to avert a default, more than a dozen sources familiar with the process said, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Argentina is once again buckling under the weight of its sovereign debts, which total around $100 billion, and Fernandez needs to urgently agree a deal with creditors to ease the burden and give his government space to try to revive the economy.

In Argentina’s sunny Mendoza province, officials had been preparing to break ground on the Vecaso solar park, a 115 megawatt project costing $90 million, Reuters reported. The culmination of nearly four years of planning, Vecaso was one of several ambitious projects to take root under a renewable energy push by the government of President Mauricio Macri.