
In the midst of the chaotic situation caused by the pandemic, the Argentine government announced the abandonment of Mercosur negotiations to prioritize the country’s domestic economy and the struggle against the virus. The rest of the bloc members must evaluate legal, institutional, and operational measures emerging from the decision.

Argentina will extend a mandatory nationwide quarantine period until May 10 in a bid to combat the advance of the coronavirus, President Alberto Fernandez announced on Saturday. The Argentine government-imposed shelter-in-place measure, in effect since mid-March, had been set to expire on Sunday.

The International Monetary Fund’s discussions with Argentina have been very productive and the fund is willing to do whatever it can to help get the Argentine economy back on a solid footing, an IMF official told reporters.

Argentina said it didn’t make US$ 500 million in debt payments due Wednesday, starting a 30-day countdown to a possible default unless the government and bondholders can reach a deal on restructuring its massive foreign debt.

Data released on Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) of Argentina showed that its foreign trade with other countries fell 17.6% in March, compared to year-ago. The trade flow reached US$7.49 billion, in the third month of the year.

A group of major asset managers who are creditors to Argentina have rejected the government’s proposal aimed at overhauling US$66.2 billion of its foreign-law debt, saying it inflicted an unjust amount of financial pain on international bondholders.

Hard times ahead for fisheries exports. According to a paper circulated among members of Argentina's different fish industry chambers foreign market prospects are not encouraging since the main markets, Spain, Italy, China and the United States, are suffering the greatest impact from the coronavirus pandemic.

The governments of Argentina and Brazil are in talks to release water from the giant Itaipu Dam with a view to topping up the Parana River, where ebbing levels are conspiring against a US$ 20-billion-a-year crop export business.

Argentina sketched out its debt restructuring proposal to international creditors on Thursday, involving a three-year grace period, large coupon cuts and a smaller reduction in capital, as it looks to win over bondholders to a deal.

According to the estimates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Uruguayan economy will decrease by 3% this 2020. The “great closure” has been how the international body has defined, as the title of its World Economic Outlook, government measures against the global pandemic caused by the COVID-19.