Argentina

• Thursday, December 17th 2015 - 06:50 UTC

  Argentina lifts foreign currency controls and let's Peso float, as of Thursday

  

  Argentina announced on Wednesday it was lifting currency controls and would allow the peso to float when markets open on Thursday, setting the stage for a devaluation, following pledges by new president Mauricio Macri for reforms to spur economic growth.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2015 - 08:49 UTC

  Argentina outlines oil and gas wellhead price policy

  

  Argentina's new government will maintain wellhead crude prices above international levels for now, although the differential will narrow as artificially low wellhead prices for natural gas are gradually adjusted upwards, energy minister Juan Jose Aranguren announced on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2015 - 08:20 UTC

  YPF and Dow sign US$500m agreement to further develop shale gas

  

  Argentina announced on Tuesday an agreement between state-run oil company YPF and Dow Chemical to spend $500 million next year developing a natural gas project in the Patagonia region.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2015 - 08:10 UTC

  Argentina on track to end import restrictions by end of the year

  

  President Mauricio Macri's administration announced the end of restrictions on imports into Argentina, with the current controls of 'sworn statements' or DJAI, replaced by a system of automatic and semi-automatic licences.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2015 - 06:57 UTC

  Malvinas is central for Argentina, but 'there are a lot of other areas to work with the UK'

  

  Argentina's foreign minister Susana Malcorra said on Tuesday the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty conflict “can't be sidestepped because it's a historic and central issue” for Argentina, although this “does not impede” acknowledging that relations between the two countries “have a lot of other areas in which we have to work”.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2015 - 08:18 UTC

  Macri slashes agriculture export duties; farmers promise 30% larger crop next year

  

  Argentina's business friendly president Mauricio Macri, announced on Monday large tax cuts on agricultural exports and emphasizing that “the camp was essential to get Argentina back on its feet”. Macri, who took office Thursday, had promised to slash the steep taxes on agricultural exports, which triggered major protests by producers against former president Cristina Fernandez administration.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2015 - 07:09 UTC

  Tragedy in north Argentina: bus runs off a bridge killing 43 gendarmes

  

  At least 43 officers were killed and nine others injured when a National Gendarmerie bus went off a bridge Monday in Salta, a province in northwestern Argentina, officials said. The bus was carrying about 60 officers when it went off the bridge and plunged into the Seco River.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2015 - 06:03 UTC

  Controversy over Argentine navy recently incorporated Russian sloops

  

  Argentina's Defense minister Julio Martínez has only been in office a few days but he already has a huge challenge on his desk: the four Russian sloops recently arrived in Buenos Aires and which according to the previous administration of Cristina Fernandez cost ten million dollars and are very appropriate for naval patrolling.

• Monday, December 14th 2015 - 08:23 UTC

  Macri meets with governors to talk about creating jobs, but not in the public sector

  

  Argentina's new president Mauricio Macri met with governors on Saturday in another major change of tone from his predecessor Cristina Fernandez' confrontational style.

• Saturday, December 12th 2015 - 02:55 UTC

  All presidents confirmed attendance of Mercosur summit, including Macri and Maduro

  

  The presidents of Mercosur member-countries have confirmed attendance to the group's summit scheduled for next 21 December and hosted by Paraguay, the country that currently holds the rotating chair, according to diplomatic sources in Asuncion.