Economy

• Thursday, March 26th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  Argentine economy contracted 2,2% last year and could drop another 2% in 2020

  

  Argentina's GDP contracted 2.2% last year, hit by the downfall of manufacturing, retail and financial activities, according to the official stats office, Indec. In the last quarter of 2019 the economy dropped 1% over the previous quarter and 1.1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018.

• Thursday, March 26th 2020 - 08:44 UTC

  South American countries agree to ensure smooth flow of goods and food supplies in the region

  

  Agriculture ministers from various South American countries participated in a video conference on Monday, March 23, to discuss harmonization of standards and ensure the smooth flow of goods and food supplies throughout the region during the Coronavirus pandemic.

• Thursday, March 26th 2020 - 08:27 UTC

  Argentina's “Children and youth protection project” receives US$ 300 million from World Bank

  

  The World Bank Board of Directors approved a new US$ 300 million operation to support Argentina’s efforts to strengthen its social protection system and minimize the impact of the crisis on the most vulnerable families.

• Thursday, March 26th 2020 - 08:01 UTC

  World Bank and IMF call on bilateral creditors to suspend payments from poor countries

  

  The World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund have issued the following joint statement to the G20 concerning debt relief for the poorest countries:

• Wednesday, March 25th 2020 - 08:56 UTC

  Pandemics: Bolsonaro and governors clash over priorities, the economy and jobs or public health

  

  Brazil's largest city of Sao Paulo began fifteen days of lockdown to fight the spread of the coronavirus on Tuesday. This after Brazil's own president, Jair Bolsonaro, has faced fierce criticism for his blasé treatment to combat the threat, which he describes as a quote “little flu.”

• Wednesday, March 25th 2020 - 08:55 UTC

  YPF admits gasoline demand is down 70% and diesel 50%

  

  Argentine state-run oil company YPF has already seen a drop in energy consumption because of a nationwide mandatory quarantine over the coronavirus announced last Friday, a company executive said in an internal video obtained by La Nacion on Tuesday and confirmed by the company.

• Wednesday, March 25th 2020 - 08:54 UTC

  Some of the things Covid 19 can be expected to change

  

  By Gwynne Dyer – They teach you in journalism school never to use the phrase “…X has changed the world forever”. Or at least they should. Covid-19 is certainly not going to change the world forever, but it is going to change quite a few things, in some cases for a long time. Here’s eight of them, in no particular order.

• Wednesday, March 25th 2020 - 08:37 UTC

  Announced US stimulus plan helps a slight recovery of oil prices

  

  Oil rose over 3% on Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would take steps to bolster the economy and on growing hopes the United States will soon reach a deal on a US$ 2 trillion coronavirus economic package.

• Wednesday, March 25th 2020 - 07:52 UTC

  Trump wants to loosen the economy's lockdown by Easter: “US is not built to shut down”

  

  President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he wants to loosen the coronavirus lockdown in the United States and restart the economy within three weeks, calling social distancing measures too disruptive.

• Tuesday, March 24th 2020 - 10:03 UTC

  With the pandemic, Argentina has “a thousand more reasons” to delay debt payments

  

  Argentina does not plan to resume debt payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for five years, buying time to pull the economy out of a worsening recession after the coronavirus outbreak led the government to impose a stay-at-home order until the end of March which also put the brakes- on activity