Argentina

Argentina’s Mercado Abierto Electronico and Matba-Rofex agreed to merge into a single exchange, creating the country’s largest futures and foreign-exchange market, Bloomberg News reported. The companies expect to make the announcement after the market closes on Monday. The new exchange will include agricultural transactions, peso futures against dollars and trading on bonds, including local treasury and central bank notes. Argentina’s foreign exchange and fixed income market volume has plummeted since the country reintroduced capital controls in 2019.

Argentine President Javier Milei’s administration embarked on what it called the second phase of its economic plan Friday by announcing that it will swap out notes held at the central bank for new Treasury debt that it’s still negotiating the terms of with private banks, Bloomberg News reported. Monetary authorities will phase out its one-day repo notes that currently pay an interest rate of 40% and served as the institution’s policy instrument.

Miguel Gutierrez, the former chief executive officer of Americanas SA, was detained early Friday in Madrid as part of an investigation into a massive accounting fraud at the Brazilian retailer, Bloomberg News reported. Brazil’s federal police confirmed the detention of the “main target” of its operation in Spain early Friday, identifying him only as the former CEO of Americanas, adding that Interpol carried out the arrest. The detention comes a day after police carried out arrest and search warrants in Rio de Janeiro as part of its biggest operation yet into the case.

Argentina's largest oil union said on Saturday it will strike for 48 hours starting Tuesday to demand higher salaries, a move that will affect production at the giant Vaca Muerta shale formation, Reuters reported. The Vaca Muerta hydrocarbon formation is the world's second-largest shale gas reserve and the fourth largest for shale oil, and plays a central role in Argentina's plan to reverse a significant deficit in its energy trade balance and become a net energy exporter.

Monthly inflation in Argentina slowed to its lowest level in May since early 2022, capping the fifth straight cooler print under President Javier Milei as market doubts linger that the trend can be sustained, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 4.2% last month, less than economists estimates for 5% and the lowest level since January 2022. From a year ago, inflation slowed to 276.4%, according to government data published Thursday. Communication costs and education led monthly price gains in May by categories.

President Javier Milei will meet face-to-face with the head of the International Monetary Fund in Italy this week, with Argentina claiming it has cleared a key hurdle as it seeks fresh funds to eventually lift capital controls, Bloomberg News reported. The libertarian leader’s talks Friday with Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit will take place a day after the Fund’s executive board votes on its latest review of the crisis-prone South American nation’s $43 billion program.

Argentina risks struggling to service some of its debt if it’s forced to pay out $1.5 billion in damages a UK court awarded to investors last year, lawyers for the South American nation have warned, Bloomberg News reported. Hedge funds including Palladian Partners LP last year won a UK High Court ruling that Argentina must compensate investors for losses in the country’s growth-linked securities after it changed the method of calculating gross domestic product.

Argentines are rushing to banks to apply for mortgages as interest-rate reductions since President Javier Milei took power begin to wake the home-loan market from a six-year slumber, Bloomberg News reported. “People are very anxious, inquiries overflowed our communication channels and we are overwhelmed,” Daniel Tillard, president of Banco Nacion, the country’s largest state-owned lender, said in an interview. The bank announced it will disburse some $4 billion of mortgages over the next four years to 40,000 potential home owners.

Argentina’s monthly inflation rate eased sharply to a single-digit rate in April for the first time in half a year, data released Tuesday showed, a closely watched indicator that bolsters President Javier Milei’s severe austerity program aimed at fixing the country’s troubled economy, the Associated Press reported.

Prices in Argentina are climbing, despite positive signs of a deceleration, with the embattled South American country's annual inflation rate set to edge closer to 300% when the government reveals the latest data on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Shopkeepers and consumers said that although monthly inflation readings have slowed since a peak over 25% in December, the change has yet to be fully felt on the ground. The inflation rate is set to edge back under single digits in April for the first time in six months.