The book topping Argentina's bestseller list is not a thriller or a murder mystery. It’s a crime story of another sort: a blockbuster about political corruption that suggests that bribery is an integral part of the country’s body politic. And neighboring Uruguay is also described as the perfect Swiss laundry for most of the money swindled from Argentina.
The Brazilian currency dipped under four Real to the dollar for the first time in five weeks at close on Thursday as the markets reacted favorably to the emergence of two clear presidential election frontrunners. The Real closed at 3.99 to the US dollar just two weeks after hitting a record low of almost 4.2 to the dollar -- it's lost around 17% since the start of the year.
The controversial Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Luis Almagro, expressed his complete support for the decision of the presidents of Argentina, Mauricio Macri; of Chile, Sebastián Piñera; of Colombia, Iván Duque; of Paraguay, Mario Abdo Benítez; of Peru, Martín Vizcarra; and of the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, to refer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) the investigation into the existence of crimes against humanity in Venezuela.
Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego province in the extreme south of Argentina will again be the main hub for Antarctica cruises with an estimated 284 calls involving 36 vessels, according to the provincial Tourism Institute. Overall Ushuaia will receive 375 calls, (Antarctica and non Antarctica cruises) totaling some 120.000 visitors.
President Mauricio Macri on Thursday asked Argentines for patience in weathering an economic crisis this year and pledged to increase social spending in the coming months, a day after reaching a US$ 57.1 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.
The International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde, speaking at a news conference in New York alongside Argentine Economy Minister Nicolas Dujovne, said IMF was “significantly frontloading” disbursements under the program adding the Argentine central bank had agreed as part of the deal to allow the peso currency to float freely and would only intervene in the foreign exchange market in extreme circumstances.
The International Monetary Fund staff and Argentina authorities have reached an agreement on a set of strengthened economic policies that will underpin the 36-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) approved on June 20, 2018.
President Mauricio Macri reaffirmed, once again, “Argentina's legitimate and imprescriptible sovereign rights over the Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and their surrounding maritime spaces”, in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
The resignation of Luis Caputo to the Presidency of the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA), which has been reflected with surprise by the international media, occurs amid the trip of the Argentine President, Mauricio Macri, to New York to attend the Assembly General of the UN and with the mission of restoring the confidence of the international market in the Argentine economy. His predecessor, Guido Sandleris, receives a Central Bank when it is about to close an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The governor of Argentina's central bank, Luis Caputo resigned on Tuesday for personal reasons, the bank said in a statement, a surprise announcement in the midst of the country's talks with the IMF that sent the peso tumbling. Former finance minister Caputo has only held the role since June and is the second Argentine central bank president to resign this year. Argentina's peso currency slid 4.65% to open at 39.15 per U.S. dollar after the announcement, traders said.