In what promises to be a week of surprises as the Argentine government unfolds measures to contain the price of the US dollar, this Monday the peso held relatively stable after last week's sharp devaluation. While the official rate remained unchanged at 8.01 Pesos for a greenback, in the parallel market it climbed to 12.15 Pesos.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández used her personal Twitter account to blast figures in the banking and financial industries, which according to the head of state used speculative practices to send Argentina into default in 2001.
By Tim Cole - This week the CELAC Summit will be held in Havana and the Cuban government will be in charge of finalizing the language in the Summit declarations. Inevitably there will be one on the Falkland Islands and I suspect it will ignore the referendum held on the Islands last year when 99.8% voted in favor of the Islands remaining an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom.
Argentina fisheries exports reached 441,255 tons in 2013, up 19.6% over the previous year when 368,915 tons were shipped abroad. Among the items with outstanding performance figures squid with over 100.000 tons and 84% higher than in 2012, according to the official stats from Argentina's Senasa, National Health and Food Quality Service.
Argentina lifted on Friday restrictions on personal US dollar purchases for citizens, ending a prohibition on greenback savings that began at the end of 2011. The new measures, which occur one day after both the official and parallel 'blue' dollar saw record rises, were announced in a short press conference by Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich and Economy Minister Axel Kicillof. The measures become effective from Monday onwards.
Mercosur is preparing for trade negotiations with the European Union and they include Argentina, said on Friday Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega at the World Economic Forum taking place in Davos, Switzerland. The comment seems to contradict other recent statements which said the trade deal with the EU will go forward with or without a reluctant Argentina.
Mercosur and the European Union continue to work on their tariff reduction proposals list but have no scheduled date for negotiators to meet and advance on a long delayed trade agreement according to Uruguayan diplomatic sources. However what is certain is that when the date is agreed it will be clear if Mercosur consensus proposal will include all founding members of the group.
The Falkland Islands cruise ship season is looking “relatively healthy” to date, according to Sulivan Shipping Tourism Coordinator Samantha Marsh, with a third of the estimated 45,000 (total) passengers scheduled still to visit during February. The season got underway in October and to date 12,300 passengers have landed from 41 vessels of varying sizes.
In a day of chaotic trading the Argentine Peso on Thursday again plummeted against the US dollar losing 12.4% of its value in the official market, ending the day at just over 8 Pesos. In earlier operations the dollar was selling at 8,31 Pesos until the Central bank decided to intervene helping to cool the market.
January 2014 is becoming the hottest month in 53 years for Argentina with the thermal factor reaching an unbearable 47.6 Celsius mid afternoon before rain poured bringing some relief to most of the country an particularly in cement city Buenos Aires.