Argentina

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 11:19 UTC

  Argentina’s primary surplus falls for seventh month running

  

  Argentina's primary budget surplus plunged 65% in June compared to year earlier, marking the seventh straight month of worsening budget results, the government said on Monday.

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 10:43 UTC

  EU/Mercosur talks expected to resume in 2010

  

  European Union Foreign Relations Commissar, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Monday that the Spanish presidency of the European Union in 2010 “should be a good moment and opportunity” to resume the stalled discussions of the European block with Mercosur.

• Monday, July 20th 2009 - 13:40 UTC

  New Argentine economy minister confirms Kirchner’s model

  

  Argentine Economy minister Amado Boudu discarded the implementation of “shock measures” and anticipated some changes will take place “to strengthen some institutions”. But he emphatically confirmed the continuation on course of “the 2003 political project”.

• Monday, July 20th 2009 - 13:34 UTC

  Number of tourists arriving in Argentina falls for eighth month running

  

  In May, for the eighth month running the number of foreign tourists visiting Argentina has dropped, mainly because of the global crisis, the A/H1N1 virus flu pandemic and domestic inflation.

• Monday, July 20th 2009 - 13:32 UTC

  Argentina’s trade surplus in six months jumps 91.7%; imports down 38%

  

  Argentina’s trade surplus jumped 91.7%, equivalent to 9.8 billion US dollars in the first half of this year compared to the same period a year ago, according to the latest release from the country’s statistics office, Indec.

• Monday, July 20th 2009 - 12:56 UTC

  Argentine dairy farm 50 years in the business forced to close

  

  Magnasco, one of the oldest dairy farms in Argentina with a history of more than 50 years has ceased activities and will dedicate its farmland to potatoes. The family business which owns four dairy farms and rents another five took the drastic action because “there’s no way of making of profit” with the erred agriculture policies from the administration of the Kirchner couple.

• Monday, July 20th 2009 - 12:51 UTC

  Argentina planning to remove bonds adjusted to inflation

  

  Argentina will seek to remove from the bonds market nearly 40% of its sovereign debt and meet all its financial obligations, Economy Minister Amado Boudou was quoted by a Buenos Aires daily on Sunday.

• Saturday, July 18th 2009 - 15:40 UTC

  Pigs contract A/H1N1 virus flu and Argentina issues national alert

  

  Argentina declared a nationwide alert on Friday after pigs in the province of Buenos Aires were confirmed to have the A/H1N1 flu virus, health authorities said. Thousands of people have contracted the virus in Argentina and 137 people in the country have died.

• Saturday, July 18th 2009 - 15:25 UTC

  YPF begins next South Atlantic drilling round in Malvinas basin

  

  In the coming two weeks the Spanish-Argentine YPF energy corporation should have concluded its first round of seven exploratory wells in the South Atlantic, and towards the end of the year, or beginning of 2010, will start drilling in deeper waters in the Malvinas basin, according to company sources.

• Saturday, July 18th 2009 - 15:11 UTC

  Argentina’s economy worst monthly performance in seven years

  

  Argentina’s economy had its worth monthly performance in almost seven years in May amid slumping industrial production and construction. Economic activity was unchanged in May from a year earlier, the first time the government hasn’t recorded growth since November 2002. The economy rose 0.1% in May from April, according to the national statistics agency, Indec.