Argentine Economy Minister Sergio Massa seems unable to find a way out of the country's current crisis. In this scenario, the blue dollar (a euphemism for black market) rose five more pesos Wednesday to close at AR$ 423 as the Central Bank (BCRA) ended with a negative balance of US$197 million, this bringing a streak of six positive rounds to an end. The country risk remained at 2,474 basis points, according to JP Morgan's index.
Rumors about Economy Minister Sergio Massa's possible resignation, the “blue” (a euphemism for “black market”) US dollar rose again Tuesday against the Argentine peso. President Alberto Fernández was reported to have a name to replace Massa: that of his Chief Advisor Antonio Aracre, who turned in his resignation Tuesday afternoon in a move to appease the markets.
According to the Office for National Statistics, the consumer price inflation rate in the United Kingdom eased to 10.1% year-on-year in March 2023, down from 10.4% the month before.
Inflation for the month of March was reported to have reached 7.7% for a 104.3% interannual and 21.7% in the first quarter of 2023, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) said Friday. In February, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 6.6%.
Brazil's National Wide Consumer Price Index (IPCA), which measures the country's official inflation, reached 0.71% in March, decelerating in relation to February, when it was 0.84%, and reaching the lowest level since January 2021, it was announced Tuesday.
Leading Argentine economists foresee the country's inflation in 2023 might reach 110%, a 10.2 % increase from previous projections, it was explained in Buenos Aires. The projection thus reached three digits for the first time since the REM was implemented.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during an EU summit last Friday in Brussels that Europe's banking system is stable and solid. The leaders of the Eurozone countries met with the head of the European Central Bank, ECB, Christine Lagarde, to discuss the potential fallsou of several major banks collapsing in the US and Switzerland.
With the informal exchange rate between the Argentine peso and the US dollar known as blue going up AR$ 8, and reaching a new record high of AR$ 394, Economy Minister Sergio Massa is planning a set of measures to reverse that trend. The new package is to be conveyed to businessmen and bankers over breakfast Wednesday before being announced.
Argentina's Consumer Price Index (CPI) for February of 2023 was reported to stand at 6.6%, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), which resulted in interannual inflation of 102.5%. In this scenario, Economy Ministry sources quoted by Buenos Aires media admitted the possibility of not meeting the 60% annual target outlined in the 2023 Budget.
Chile recorded a 0.1% decrease in its Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of February of 2023 for an interannual 11.9% increase, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported in Santiago Wednesday. It was the first negative monthly variation since November 2020.