
Argentine President Alberto Fernández Tuesday said his country was still fine-tuning details of an agreement with The International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding the repayment of a US $ 44 bn loan taken during the Mauricio Macri administration.

The United States and allies will be releasing 60 million barrels from their reserves, in an effort to contain the effect on supply and prices of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thirty million will come from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the other half from allies in Europe and Asia.

The Swiss company that built the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, supposed to double the Russian gas supply to Germany, has filed for insolvency and left redundant all its staff, according to Swiss radio SRF. The US$ 11bn pipeline, which runs between Russia and Germany, was completed last September and waiting for final approval from German authorities, but was put on hold following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

China's foreign ministry spokesperson during the daily media conference called for an end to the Cold War mentality and emphasized that Beijing does not agree to resolve issues with sanctions that lack the basis of international law.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has also caused major disruptions in the agricultural commodities' markets with soaring prices for wheat, corn, soybeans... and much speculation.

Vehicle sales slumped the most in Argentina and Brazil of all Latin American countries during January, according to a report with data for ten nations in the region.

South Africa’s new Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has told Congress the country was becoming a welfare state fast and he sought Parliamentarian approval for his first budget.

Hundreds of Paraguayans rushed over the weekend to the coastal town of Nanawa – formerly Puerto Elsa – in the Presidente Hayes province to buy cheaper fuel smuggled from Clorinda, Argentina, it was reported.

Western powers have decided to ban Russia from the SWIFT banking payments system as part of the sanctions against the Government of President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine, it was announced during the weekend in a joint statement from countries adopting the measure.

The Ukraine war which has impacted on Russian markets and particularly the plunge of the ruble, should not be a major cause of concern for China-Russia bilateral trade since a growing percentage of business is done with the Chinese currency Yuan, as the two countries move towards de-dollarization, according to financial circles in Beijing.