Argentina is ready to cancel next Friday a bond issue which was handed out to residents with bank deposits victims of the so called “corralito” (paddock) in 2002 when the collapse of the Argentine economy and financial system.
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced he expected to sign an oil/gas alliance between Argentina’s YPF and PDVSA (Venezuelan Petroleum) when he meets with his peer Cristina Fernandez in Brasilia in the framework of the Mercosur extraordinary summit to officially incorporate the country as full member of the trade group.
Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez “wonder boy” seems to be missing on his homework. According to the Argentine media Economy Deputy Minister Axel Kicillof not only has his savings in US dollars but owns real estate in Uruguay, which Argentina considers an overseas fiscal paradise.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica said on Monday it “is not useful” for foreign ministries to publicly exchange letters following Argentina’s latest message accusing Uruguay of not collaborating in exposing claims of alleged bribes involving the works planned for the widening and deep-dredging of the River Plate access canal Martin Garcia.
As part of its “Malvinas noose tightening” policy the Argentine government is planning an international tender to offer licenses to explore for oil near the Falkland Islands, reports Buenos Aires main daily Clarin in its Monday edition, citing a letter to Congress by Cabinet chief Juan Manuel Abal Median.
Planning Minister Julio De Vido denied that the Government plans the “intervention” of the energy sector and clarified that “we demand investment and production plans. This is not an intervention, simple more planning.”
The world’s largest supplier of methanol, Canadian-based Methanex, will invest 550 million dollars to relocate a methanol production plant from the extreme south of Chile to a 225-acre site in Geismar, Louisiana.
Barrick Gold, the world’s biggest gold miner, says its capital costs to develop a giant mine high in the Andes could reach 8 billion dollars and has delayed production until 2014.
A good one and a bad one for the government of the City of Buenos Aires: Economy minister Nestor Grindetti announced that an agreement had been reached with power companies to bring light back to several public areas of the city that had remained in the dark for several days due to unpaid bills.
Experts from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela will begin to define on Monday in Brasilia the technical procedures and timetable for the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur which will become official on Tuesday at an extraordinary summit of the block.