Economy

• Tuesday, February 18th 2025 - 01:04 UTC

  Milei takes full responsibility for $LIBRA scandal

  

  Weathering the storm against all odds, Argentine President Javier Milei blamed nobody and took full responsibility for his mistake in the so-called “cryptocurrency” scandal in which he endorsed the $LIBRA asset only to see it lose over 95% of its value in just a few hours after the head of state's posting. “I got a slap in the face,” he reckoned. It had been speculated that Milei was to blame an advisor for his or her poor judgment and then sack him or her as a scapegoat.

• Monday, February 17th 2025 - 10:55 UTC

  Repercussions of Milei's support for cryptocurrency that vanishes

  

  Argentine President Javier Milei is under heavy flak after praising the $LIBRA cryptocurrency token, which would boost the country's development from the private sector, only to vanish into thin air after many investors trusted in the advice of the head of State, who is also a graduate economist.

• Monday, February 17th 2025 - 09:08 UTC

  Argentine deregulation minister meets with IMF Chief in Saudi Arabia

  

  Argentina's Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger met Sunday in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. They were both attending the Conference for Emerging Market Economies.

• Saturday, February 15th 2025 - 10:35 UTC

  Paraguay hopes to double beef exports to Morocco

  

  Paraguayan meat shipments to Morocco are expected to double after a team from the South American country met with buyers this week to discuss cooperation in the agricultural sector, with an emphasis on accessing advanced technology and essential fertilizers. Presiding over the mission to Rabat was Representative Carlos Alberto Núñez Salinas of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (Parlatino).

• Friday, February 14th 2025 - 10:37 UTC

  Argentina: Indec says January's inflation stood at 2.2%

  

  Argentina's inflation in January 2025 stood at 2.2%, down from 2.7% in December, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) said in a report released Thursday, which also showed yoy values of 84.5%. January's was the lowest Consumer Price Index (CPI) since July 2020 - 1.9% amid the Covid-19 pandemic - and also the best under Javier Milei, who took office on Dec. 10, 2023. The President's best previous CPI was in November 2024 at 2.4%.

• Thursday, February 13th 2025 - 13:20 UTC

  Cuba going through one of its worst electricity-generation crises

  

  Cuba has been reported to be facing severe power outages after the unexpected breakdown of the Felton 1 Thermoelectric Power Plant, worsening the situation in Havana and other parts of the island. The State-run National Electric Union (UNE) said numerous generation plants were out of service due to fuel shortages, local authorities blaming the US economic blockade for their hardships, when in reality infrastructure failures and poor maintenance to already obsolete equipment were other contributing factors. A total of 57 generation plants in the country, in addition to two floating units, were affected by the lack of fuel.

• Wednesday, February 12th 2025 - 21:26 UTC

  January FAO Food Price Index down 1,6% from December but 6,2% higher year ago

  

  The FAO Food Price Index, the benchmark for world food commodity prices, declined in January, averaging 124.9 points during the month, down 1.6% from its December level. The drop was driven by significant decreases in the international quotations for vegetable oils and sugar, FAO reported.

• Wednesday, February 12th 2025 - 10:55 UTC

  Brazil’s Finance Minister: Trump's tariffs damage global trade

  

  Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad stressed Tuesday that US President Donald Trump's decision to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports was “counterproductive” to the global economy. “The global economy loses with this, with this retraction, with this de-globalization that is happening,” he added.

• Wednesday, February 12th 2025 - 08:54 UTC

  US dollar not lagging, says Caputo

  

  Argentina's Economy Minister Luis 'Toto' Caputo insisted Tuesday that the US dollar was not lagging against the peso and also mentioned that a new deal with the Monetary Fund (IMF) was just details away from being finalized. He made those remarks and negative results hit the local stock markets, and the country-risk index regained its upward trend following President Javier Milei's statements that a devaluation was not in sight and that the government did not intend to modify the current pensions law.

• Tuesday, February 11th 2025 - 19:52 UTC

  Brazil: January's IPCA lowest since 1994

  

  Inflation last month in South America's largest country reached 0.16%, January's lowest since 1994, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) announced Tuesday. The agency also noted that the main cause for such an unprecedented feat after the introduction of the real was the so-called Itaipu Bonus, a special discount on electricity bills benefitting some 78 million consumers. The Real Plan was implemented in July of that year.