Economy

• Tuesday, January 28th 2025 - 07:41 UTC

  Milei’s 2025 challenges: Between Argentina's mid-term elections and the IMF

  

  By Alejandro Werner (*) - The author thanks Ignacio Albe, Olivier Blanchard, Martina Copelman, Joseph Gagnon, José de Gregorio, Patrick Honohan, Douglas Irwin, Maurice Obstfeld, and other PIIE colleagues for their comments and suggestions.

• Monday, January 27th 2025 - 14:26 UTC

  Argentine SME exports grow 17.3% in 2024

  

  Argentina's Chamber of Medium-sized Enterprises (CAME) released a report this weekend showing an interannual growth in exports of 17.3% measured in US dollars, with total sales amounting to US$ 10.032 billion, which represented 12.5% of the country's shipments. In addition, if measured in volume, SMEs exported 8.5 million tons, a 25.1% increase from 2023. However, CAME noted that the average price per ton fell by 6.3%.

• Saturday, January 25th 2025 - 10:36 UTC

  Foreign travelers contribute significantly to Brazil's economy in 2024

  

  Foreign travelers brought in US$7.341 billion in revenue to Brazil last year, the South American country's Central Bank (BCB) announced on Friday, citing a report from the Ministry of Tourism. These figures represented the best results in 15 years, and an increase of 6.28% compared to the US$6.907 billion in 2023.

• Saturday, January 25th 2025 - 09:29 UTC

  Moody's improves Argentina's grades

  

  The international credit rating agency Moody's Friday improved Argentina's long-term foreign and local currency issuer grades from Ca to Caa3 but warned that “there are still significant risks to the country's ability to cover upcoming external debt payments.”

• Thursday, January 23rd 2025 - 10:22 UTC

  IMF mission arrives in Buenos Aires to discuss US$ 11 billion loan

  

  An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team landed in Buenos Aires Wednesday to discuss Argentina's eligibility for a US$ 11 billion new loan to make up for the South American country's currently negative reserves. The mission is headed by the IMF's Western Hemisphere Department Deputy Director Luis Cubeddu.

• Thursday, January 23rd 2025 - 08:59 UTC

  Brazil: Dollar plunges to lowest level since November

  

  The US dollar fell Wednesday below R$ 6 following Donald Trump's second inauguration this week in Washington DC, thus reaching its lowest level since November. Meanwhile, the stock market fell for the first time after three straight rises. The commercial dollar closed Wednesday at R$ 5.946 after hitting R$ 5.91 around 2 pm. So far this year, the US dollar went down by 3.79%.

• Wednesday, January 22nd 2025 - 21:13 UTC

  Milei would have no qualms breaking up with Mercosur if need be for FTA with US

  

  Argentine President Javier Milei said in an interview with Bloomberg in Davos (Switzerland) that if breaking up with the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) was a requirement to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, he would not hesitate to do it.

• Wednesday, January 22nd 2025 - 09:30 UTC

  Brazilian Central Bank report foresees 5.08% inflation for this year

  

  The Focus Bulletin released earlier this week by Brazil's Central Bank (BCB) projected a 5.08% inflation for this year in South America's largest country. The new prediction represented a slight twitch from last week's 5% National Consumer Price Index (IPCA). Meanwhile, Brazil's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the sum of goods and services produced in the country - is expected to grow by 2.04% in 2025, a slight improvement from 2.02% the week before.

• Tuesday, January 21st 2025 - 21:45 UTC

  Italian teenager toys with Mediterranean merchant ship traffic just for fun

  

  A 15-year-old lad from Cesena, Italy, toyed with merchant ship routes in the Mediterranean after accessing the navigation systems just for fun. Although no material damage was reported, a criminal case has been opened against the teenager, whose parents claimed to be unaware of those activities.

• Tuesday, January 21st 2025 - 10:45 UTC

  Argentina records foreign trade surplus in 2024

  

  Argentina posted last year its highest nominal trade surplus in two decades, according to a National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) report released Monday in Buenos Aires. The document showed a US$ 18.9 billion positive outcome which contrasted with the US$ 6.925 billion deficit the year before.