
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted by a narrow 5-4 margin to keep interest rates on hold at 3,75%. In its first meeting of 2026, four members voted to reduce the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points. Markets reacted positively with sterling at US$ 1,36.

Argentine stocks and hard-currency bonds fell on Tuesday, hit by a risk-off turn in global markets and fresh domestic uncertainty tied to the stalled overhaul of inflation measurement following Marco Lavagna’s departure from INDEC.

Uruguay’s peso has been labelled the world’s most “overvalued” currency against the U.S. dollar on a GDP-per-capita-adjusted basis, according to the latest Big Mac Index published by The Economist and cited by Uruguayan media. Under the adjusted methodology, the peso is estimated to be 83.9% above its implied “long-run equilibrium.” In the unadjusted ranking, Uruguay places second, with 43.1% overvaluation, behind the Swiss franc.

From 1960 to 2024, Paraguay posted the highest cumulative GDP expansion in South America, according to calculations published by Forbes Paraguay and Colombia’s La República, drawing on World Bank constant-2015-dollar series. Over that span, Paraguay’s economy rose from roughly US$2.8 billion to about US$46 billion (2015 prices), multiplying more than sixteen-fold.

Argentina’s national statistics agency, INDEC, said its director, Marco Lavagna, stepped down on Monday after more than six years in the post, just as the country was preparing to launch a revamped consumer price index (CPI). Within hours, Economy Minister Luis Caputo confirmed the methodology change would be delayed indefinitely “until the disinflation process is consolidated,” with no new date set.

China’s President Xi Jinping has called for the renminbi to achieve global reserve currency status, “a powerful currency” according to remarks published on Saturday in Qiushi, the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship ideology journal.

Donald Trump said on Friday he will nominate Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor, to become the next chair of the U.S. central bank, replacing Jerome Powell when Powell’s term as chair expires in May. The announcement, delivered via Truth Social, follows months of speculation over who would inherit the world’s most consequential monetary-policy job.

Argentina’s central bank (BCRA) posted another net purchase in the foreign-exchange market on Thursday, buying US$52 million and logging a 19-session streak of net buying, according to figures reported by local media. Over that run, the bank accumulated US$1.134 billion, while gross reserves rose to US$46.24 billion, the highest level since 2021 and the strongest reading since President Javier Milei took office.

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi has departed for China at the head of a roughly 150-strong delegation, framing the trip as a bid to “increase commercial and economic development” with Uruguay’s top trading partner. Before leaving, Orsi formally handed executive authority to Vice President Carolina Cosse, while the mission’s schedule in Beijing and Shanghai blends top-level political meetings with trade promotion and academic cooperation.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that opens the door to imposing tariffs on imports from countries deemed to be supplying crude oil to Cuba, a move designed to raise the external cost of keeping Havana’s energy lifeline open and further constrain fuel flows to the island.