Argentina’s Peso fell on Thursday, pressured by the recession-hit country’s dismal inflation outlook and higher U.S. interest rates that have pushed capital away from riskier emerging markets and toward the greenback, local traders said. The peso shed 1.85% to close at 38.4 per dollar after having gained 9.58% over the previous three days under a freshly-renegotiated International Monetary Fund financing deal that calls for tougher fiscal and monetary policy measures.
Argentine World Cup winner Diego Maradona has spoken of his interest in entering the world of politics in his home country, even offering to be the vice-presidential candidate to former leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, arrived Thursday evening in Argentina to meet with President Mauricio Macri on Friday to discuss oil investments in Vaca Muerta and other bilateral issues.
Argentina’s peso rallied for a third straight day on Wednesday, after high-interest short-term debt issued by the central bank soaked up liquidity, a strategy that has raised concern about the sustainability of the country’s program.
The he Argentine peso climbed more than 4% on Monday trading on the back of a debt sale by the central bank aimed at mopping up excess liquidity and signs that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is solidly behind the administration of president Mauricio Macri.
Argentina has “nearly closed” a new currency swap deal with China that will add the equivalent of US$ 9 billion to the South American country’s reserves, the central bank said on Sunday. Argentina and China first agreed to a swap program in 2009 to boost the South American country’s dwindling reserves under former President Cristina Fernandez. Last year, the center-right government of President Mauricio Macri and China agreed to extend the program for three more years.
The controversial Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, expressed his complete support for the decision of the presidents of Argentina, Mauricio Macri; of Chile, Sebastián Piñera; of Colombia, Iván Duque; of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez; of Peru, Martín Vizcarra; and of the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, to refer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) the investigation into the existence of crimes against humanity in Venezuela.
President Mauricio Macri on Thursday asked Argentines for patience in weathering an economic crisis this year and pledged to increase social spending in the coming months, a day after reaching a US$ 57.1 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.
The International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, speaking at a news conference in New York alongside Argentine Economy Minister Nicolas Dujovne, said IMF was “significantly frontloading” disbursements under the program adding the Argentine central bank had agreed as part of the deal to allow the peso currency to float freely and would only intervene in the foreign exchange market in extreme circumstances.
The International Monetary Fund staff and Argentina authorities have reached an agreement on a set of strengthened economic policies that will underpin the 36-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) approved on June 20, 2018.