Thousands of protesters camped on Wednesday in downtown Buenos Aires to demand that Argentina declare a food emergency as the economic crisis deepened just weeks ahead of the presidential election.
An Argentine lawmaker died on Sunday of gunshot wounds he suffered last week in a daylight attack outside the Congress building in Buenos Aires. The death of Hector Olivares, 61, was announced by his ruling party coalition, called Cambiemos.
President Mauricio Macri delivered a robust defense of his austerity policy on Friday in a State of the Union address to Argentina's Congress ahead of a reelection bid in October. Macri went on the offensive in a turbulent session that featured shouts and heckling from opposition lawmakers, declaring there was no turning back on his policies.
An IMF team is back in Buenos Aires to review the Argentine economy performance and how it is complying with the fiscal and monetary conditions established in the stand-by US$ 57 billion loan agreed last year. The head of the mission Roberto Cardarelli is scheduled to meet ministers, central bank officials, members of Congress from the ruling coalition and opposition, academia and different lobbies.
After 13 hours of debate, the Argentine Senate approved the draft Public Administration Budget for 2019 early on Thursday. The project, presented by Mauricio Macri’s government, went ahead with 45 votes in favor, 24 against and just one abstention.
Protesters opposed to proposed austerity measures clashed with police outside Argentina's Congress on Wednesday as lawmakers discussed next year's budget. Dozens of people threw rocks while police in riot gear responded with rubber bullets and water cannons. Local television said that at least twenty-seven people have been detained but there were no confirmed reports on injuries.
Argentina will pay for unforeseen increases in the cost of cooking gas following public outrage and opposition in Congress to stymie the plan which would have seen consumers paying increased gas prices in 24 installments from January 2019.
The lower house of Argentina’s Congress on Thursday narrowly passed a Bill to legalise abortion through 14 weeks of pregnancy after a tight vote on a proposal that has divided the South American nation.
The Argentine Congress passed the government's capital markets reform bill on Wednesday, seeking to boost a troubled economy by reducing the power of market regulators and loosening restrictions on some funds investing in Argentina. Investors and economists consider the reform bill key to President Mauricio Macri's effort to boost investment in the country, whose capital markets are far smaller than regional peers.
In his speech to Congress marking the opening of this year’s legislative session, Argentine president Mauricio Macri defended his business-friendly government’s so-called “gradualist” approach to economic reforms from critics who argue he should move faster to cut government spending and lower taxes in order to boost growth and attract investment.