
Following on his congressional midterm election win, president Mauricio Macri sealed a fiscal agreement with governors of nearly all Argentine provinces in a sign of his growing clout in upcoming negotiations to close the budget deficit, reform labor legislation and open up the economy. However there are some warnings and indicators to keep watch off, according to an orthodox economist.

The United States Navy has sent rescue equipment and crew to assist in the search for a missing Argentine Navy submarine and its 44 crew members. The San Diego based Undersea Rescue Command (URC) departed from Miramar Saturday with a Submarine Rescue Chamber (SRC) and four aircraft, en route to the Southern Atlantic, where the submarine A.R.A. San Juan lost contact with the Argentine Navy on Wednesday.

The dramatic search for the missing Argentine submarine in the South Atlantic has captivated the nation of 44 million, which recently mourned the loss of five citizens killed when a terrorist truck driver plowed through a bicycle path in New York City.

The Royal Navy has deployed ice patrol ship HMS Protector to help search for an Argentine submarine that went missing in the South Atlantic with 44 people on board. Contact with the Argentine military sub ARA San Juan was lost three days ago, Wednesday.

The Argentine navy has stepped up its search of the South Atlantic for a submarine with 44 crew on board that remains missing two days after its last communication on Wednesday. ARA San Juan was in the western south Atlantic some 432 kilometers from the Patagonian coast close to the San Jorge Gulf, when it sent its last signal on Wednesday midday, naval spokesman Enrique Balbi said on Friday.

Argentina’s consumer prices rose 1.5% in October, government statistics agency Indec said on Tuesday, bringing 10-month inflation to 19.4%. It was the second month in a row that cumulative inflation for 2017 was above the upper band of the central bank’s target range for inflation, between 12% and 17% this year. Private sector economists expect inflation of 23% this year and 16% in 2018.

Argentina is disputing with Chile South America’s top producer of the mineral lithium, a key ingredient for the production of electric cars and its rechargeable batteries allowing them to retain energy far longer, and as a consequence its price has soared more than 30% to a record US$ 12.000 a ton this year.

The purchase by Argentina of five refurbished French Super Etendard to help with security measures when Argentina hosts the 2018 G20 summit, which will bring together the world's top leaders, has triggered a dispute among the country's services since the current defense minister, Oscar Aguad wants to concentrate all military aircraft in the Air Force.

Argentina's ARA Islas Malvinas has started this season's Antarctic duty as part of the Antarctic combined naval patrolling, responsibility which Argentina shares with neighboring Chile since 1988.

Argentina's Acindar steelmaker is currently working at 70% of its installed capacity, which is 1.7 million metric tons of crude steel and 1.4 million mt of finished steel. In 2016, Acindar produced 962,000 mt of steel products. Expectation for 2017 is that it will reach 1.1 million mt, resuming good levels for the company.