A truck carrying live pigs turned over in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, and neighbors and other cars looted the cargo and in some cases slaughtered the animals in the highway. The accident took place in the access of Coronale Vidal, some 300 kilometers from the city of Buenos Aires.
By Steve H. Hanke – In addition to facing an acute Covid-19 crisis, Argentina's deadbeat economy is collapsing, and, as usual, the inflation noose is around Argentines’ necks. Argentina’s official inflation rate for August 2020 is 40.70% per year. And, for once, Argentina’s official rate is fairly close to the rate that I calculate each day using high-frequency data and purchasing power parity theory, a methodology that has long proved its worth when compared with official statistics. Today, I measure Argentina’s annual inflation rate at 37%, but probably not for long — the noose is generally followed by the trapdoor.
For the second day running the Argentine Peso was virtually worthless in neighboring Uruguay foreign exchange houses. On Tuesday the Argentine Peso was worth zero, and on Wednesday there was a modest ten Uruguayan cents offered for the battered Argentine currency.
Argentina’s ruling coalition, Frente de Todos, is seeking to impose a one-time tax on wealthy citizens as part of a strategy to solidify the alliance’s populist credentials while boosting government revenue amid a deteriorating economic crisis.
Argentina has extended a price freeze on mobile, internet, and TV services until the end of 2020 after deeming them “essential public services”. The freeze prevents operators from increasing tariffs unless they receive permission from the country’s government. A price freeze has been in place since May and had been due to expire at the end of August.
Argentine former president Eduardo Duhalde emphatically said that the scheduled midterm elections next year will not be taking place if no consensuses are reached by the political system and the overall situation continues to deteriorate.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday the lender has had “very constructive” exchanges with Argentina's new Peronist government and would do whatever possible to assist the indebted country.
Argentina has been facing significant financial issues in the last decade, and Uruguay wealth management teams are poised to take advantage.
Argentina’s central bank is talking to the International Monetary Fund about revising its monetary policy target for September, the institution’s president Guido Sandleris told reporters in Buenos Aires on Monday.
Argentina’s biggest labor union on Tuesday called for a 24-hour national strike to protest the government’s austerity policies, heaping pressure on President Mauricio Macri as he battles against a biting recession and jittery markets.