
An official with the International Monetary Fund has declared that the increase in the poverty rate in Argentina could force the government to rethink its spending plans and “protect the poor.”

Argentina ran a primary fiscal deficit of 13.037 billion pesos (US$ 305.32 million) in March, the country’s Treasury minister Nicolás Dujovne said at a press conference on Monday, though posted a first-quarter surplus of 10.347 billion pesos.

Bolivia is looking at exporting natural gas globally through liquefaction terminals to be built in Argentina, and to buy crude from its southern neighbor, Bolivian President Evo Morales said on Monday, a move that would compensate for dwindling sales of its main export to Argentina and Brazil.

Mauricio Macri's original plan was to address Argentina’s citizens on television on the final working day before the Easter break. But he opted for a folksier way of presenting an economic package that he hopes will rescue his chances of being re-elected president in October. He appeared in a taped video, knocking on the door of a house belonging to a young working-class couple, then sitting down with them to explain his plan.

Argentine experts have expressed the belief that the upcoming Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation can yield more concrete steps for collaboration between China and Latin America. Members of the Asian Affairs Committee at Argentina's Council on International Relations (CARI), a leading think tank, spoke to China's government news agency Xinhua in the lead-up to the forum.

Argentina will be receiving in a few weeks time five refurbished Dassault-Breguet Super Etendard (SEM) fighter bombers decommissioned from the French navy. The 13 million Euro purchase also includes a flight simulator, engines and spares and are currently sailing across the Atlantic en route to Bahía Blanca.

Argentina's President Mauricio Macri announced a freeze in the price of basic goods and public services on Wednesday in a bid to limit the impact of spiraling inflation that could hamper his re-election hopes in October. Hit by soaring prices due to inflation that reached almost 55% over the last 12 months, many Argentines have been calling for a change in economic policy.

Argentina's inflation rate accelerated for the third straight month in March, the government statistics agency said on Tuesday, prompting the central bank to unveil fresh measures to temper raging inflation and protect the embattled peso currency.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) has won exploration rights in five offshore blocks in the North Argentina, and Malvinas West basins in Argentina. The winning bids were announced on Tuesday by Argentina’s Secretariat of Government of Energy (“SGE”) at the end of a public tender process that started in November 2018.

Argentina sold US$ 60 million in the foreign exchange market on Monday, traders said, marking the start of peso-buying program approved by the International Monetary Fund and aimed at bolstering government finances.