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A hundred thousand protesters joined in the University March in Buenos Aires
Despite the relentless rain, 100,000 people took to the streets on Thursday evening to protest against the salary crisis and cuts to public education. University trade unions and student federations were joined by various opposition groups, human rights groups and science organisations, reported Clarin. The protesters met at the National Congress at 5 p.m. and moved towards Plaza de Mayo, holding placards as well as umbrellas. “Education is a right, not a business,” read one placard, with other proclaiming “Don’t touch public universities,” and “Why so afraid of educating the population?” Handkerchief sellers also made the most of this opportunity, […]Read more...
“We are not facing an economic failure” Dujovne and Peña optimistic amid economic uncertainty
The Argentine peso shot up on Wednesday and is now sitting at 39 to the US dollar, and, as a result, Argentine citizens are now 8% poorer than they were on Tuesday. The Central Bank has hiked interest rates – which were already the highest in the world at 45% – to 60% in order to arrest the peso’s depreciation. President Mauricio Macri has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to speed up the payments of the US$50 billion loan in order to reduce the country’s fiscal deficit. It’s no surprise that Argentine citizens’ trust for the government has sunk […]Read more...
IMF will bring forward payments necessary to restore market confidence
President Mauricio Macri released a short video on Wednesday morning announcing that he has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to speed up their payment of the US$50 billion loan agreed upon in May. The Argentine President explained that this a response to diminishing confidence from international markets, as well as suggesting that the measure will “strengthen confidence and get back onto the path to growth as soon as possible.” Bloomberg reported that global trust in Argentina fell to 1.94 on a 0-5 scale, down from 3.14 during Macri’s first month in office in 2016. Since the start of 2018 […]Read more...
Palestine activists protest against the Jerusalem Orchestra during their South American tour
Palestine activists and the Boycott Divestments and Sanctions Movementn (BDS) have been protesting against the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, which is currently on tour in South America. Protests have been seen in Argentina, Peru and Brazil, reported Haaretz, and the largest was in Santiago, Chile, where protestors demonstrated outside the concert hall holding up images of the conductor, Yeruham Scharovsky, with his hands and chest spattered in blood. BDS movement uses bloody poster to protest Israeli orchestra in Chile: Calls for a boycott and demonstrations even as Jerusalem Symphony plays to packed houses in tour of South America https://t.co/5VMuiT1hF0 TimesofIsrael pic.twitter.com/v2sdAJJSga […]Read more...
Washington-Turkey crisis hits Argentina and interest rates are hiked to 45%
The fall of the Turkish lira is the new saga for Argentina’s tarnished economic record in 2018, an unexpected occurrence which has had a negative effect on emerging markets across the globe. A crisis emerged between Washington and Ankara over an American pastor who had been judged in Turkey as a terrorist and a spy, reported Al Araby. Andrew Brunson, who has already been in jail for two years, is now under house arrest in Turkey and stands accused of carrying out activities for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the movement supporting US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen. Both groups […]Read more...
The US sits on the sidelines as China strengthens ties with Latin America
Argentina’s current precarious economic situation was exacerbated in no small part by a mass exodus of international investors, especially those from the United States. However, as the country struggles to keep its head above water in a sea of inflation and currency crises, China’s investment could be the support they so desperately need. But at what cost? China have offered financial assistance and trade ties with the South American country, involving a currency swap agreement that allows the countries to loan funds to each other in times of financial difficulty. A renewed agreement in July 2017 means the two countries […]Read more...
Struggling small and medium-sized businesses turn to Macri for help
Last month, Argentina’s celebration of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Day prompted a formal request from the country’s Confederation of Medium-Sized Enterprises (CAME) for President Mauricio Macri to offer ways to alleviate the crisis they are currently facing. The ongoing currency crisis, which has seen the peso fluctuate considerably against the US dollar over the past few years, has stunted buying and selling decisions across the country. Despite the recent introduction of a buffer-inducing ‘floating currency,’ financial instabilities in Argentina have hit record levels over the last few months, which has largely impacted the country’s smaller-sized businesses. “We need to […]Read more...
G20 in Argentina: Economic leaders want more trade dialogue and less obstacles
The trade wars between the United States, China, Canada and Europe gave leaders from some of the world’s most important economies a lot to talk about at the G20 meetings in Buenos Aires this past weekend. All participating countries and financial figureheads came together on Sunday to sign a consensus statement, in which they agreed, among other financial topics, that escalating divisions in trade talks hamper global growth. As the event wrapped up on Sunday at the Buenos Aires Exhibition & Convention Centre (CEC), Argentine Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne told reporters that “consensus was not difficult to achieve,” according to Bloomberg. […]Read more...
Ahead of Christina Lagarde’s visit on Friday, is Argentina on track and toeing the IMF’s guidelines?
With IMF’s Christina Legarde’s visit to Argentina scheduled for this Friday, it’s time to take a look at what changes she will be expecting, and whether the country is on track with their predictions. Off to a slow start, the IMF’s July growth projections have given Argentina a little more room to breathe. The article states that “growth projections have been revised down for Argentina,” acknowledging the difficult conditions the country is facing “owing to tighter financial restrictions and needed policy adjustment.” Argentina sought help from the IMF this year, when foreign investors left Argentina en masse, leaving the country […]Read more...
IMF measures mean 6000 job losses and frozen salaries, affecting much of the population – except the armed forces
President Mauricio Macri’s obsession with cutting Argentina’s fiscal deficit in line with IMF demands reaches a head after the release of an official bulletin was on Tuesday. This explained that the government will not hire any new staff and that state salaries will be frozen until Dec. 2019 when he finishes his term as president. Additionally, Macri has decided to fire over 6000 people who are currently contracted by universities as technical assistants from Jan. 1 2018. This applies to all universities, be it private, public, state, regional or national, and could affect up to 7,000 people. However, TeleSur reported […]Read more...
Lawyer stands up for fired Telam workers saying their jobs should be reinstated
After weeks of peaceful protesting, the 354 people who were fired from state-owned media agency Telam have received some support from the justice system. TeleSur reported that head lawyer for Social Security Gabriel de Vedia has voted for the reinstatement of those who lost their jobs in response to an argument presented by the National Civil Association for Equality. The organisation argued that the layoffs were carried out “in an arbitrary time frame and in a discriminatory manner.” On June 26. 40% of Telam workers were given their notice without previous warning. This came alongside a communication on the Telam […]Read more...
The rise of money-free exchange markets reflect economic crisis and social change
As Mauricio Macri and his government are holding their ground against national protests, fluctuating currency rates and a staff upheaval at the Central Bank, Argentina’s communities are taking matters into their own hands. Just as during the economic crisis of 2001, when rising inflation rates and Argentina defaulting on their IMF loan caused thousands of Argentines to fall into poverty, citizens are rallying together to prove that money isn’t actually everything. There has been a rise in barter markets, where people can trade their goods for food or other products that they need, without needing to use money. In 2001, […]Read more...
MSCI reclassifies Argentina as an emerging market after 9 years, but what will change?
Argentina has just found out that it will leave its status as a frontier market and become an emerging market. This is a long anticipated moment, but what does it actually mean for the country? First of all, an emerging market has access to a much larger pool of potential investor companies. Apertura explained that the frontier market index has 110 companies from 29 countries available to invest, whereas the emerging market index has a whopping 830 companies from 24 countries. Being upgraded will result in more investments, and therefore more liquidity. Cronista estimated that if bumped up, Argentina would […]Read more...
Caputo brims with confidence saying crisis is ‘the best thing that could have happened’
Luis Caputo, the recently-appointed president of the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) is showing confidence in his management and said that Argentina’s currency crisis was “the best thing that could have happened.” This confidence follows Tuesday’s closing-market value of the dollar at $28.46 pesos, and some Lebacs reaching the end of their term to the tune of $53 billion pesos. He told Argentine newspaper Clarin that the first 48 hours of his management had been very good, and that his measures were well received by both markets and analysts. “In the short term these things have a price, but I […]Read more...
Luis Caputo’s plan to arrest the increase in the peso and attract investors starts Monday
Luis Caputo took the reins of the Central Bank last Friday, and he has put in place a plan that will make significant changes in a bid to balance the economy and put the brakes on the rise of the peso. Caputo, who replaced Federico Sturzenegger as president of the Central Bank, has vice-president Gustavo Cañonero at his side to help him set up measures that hope to bring back support and trust to the Argentine economy. This will be a difficult task, as the dollar reached its highest levels since President Mauricio Macri’s office began. One of the first […]Read more...
President of the Central Bank Sturzenegger resigns saying his ‘credibility had deteriorated’
The president of the Argentine Central Bank, Federico Sturzenegger, resigned on Thursday evening and Luis Caputo will take his place. Thursday afternoon Sturzenegger handed in his letter of resignation and published it on Twitter, in which he admitted that his credibility had been deteriorating. The now ex-president of the Central Bank is an MIT-trained economist, and left his post after a difficult week where the peso went down in value by 6% and hit an all time low of 28.43 to the dollar, reported Bloomberg. Sturzenegger had been criticised for raising the interest rate to the highest in the world […]Read more...
The Argentine Peso hits nearly 26 to the dollar after the Central Bank refuses to follow IMF guidelines
The Argentine Peso has gained trading value for the first time in two days, after a steady drop of nearly four percent at the beginning of the week. By 2pm on Tuesday the Peso was up by 1.1 percent, which means its value at the time of writing sat at 25.8 pesos to the USD. The jump coincided with a market intervention by the country’s central bank today, despite agreements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that they would allow the currency to float freely, reports the Financial Times. Though it has been claimed that the intervention was small, it […]Read more...
IMF loan is secured; but what does that mean for the country?
Argentina’s $50 billion loan from the IMF that was announced on Thursday evening has caused widespread controversy. But what are the effects it has had on the country? A national strike was called on Friday by the Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina (CTA) and the Central de Trabajadores de la Argentina Autónoma (CTA Autónoma) for Tuesday June 14. “[The march represents] a rejection of the government policies, the rising utility bills and the handing over of national sovereignty to the IMF,” the two organisations said in a group statement reported by TeleSur. “The government wants to turn its back […]Read more...
Argentina and IMF agree on a $50 billion loan despite national protests
Argentina agreed to a $50 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday, as long as they meet ambitious economic objectives. Argentina started talks with the IMF on May 8. after the peso weakened dramatically due to a wave of investors leaving the country, causing the peso to depreciate 25% next to the dollar. Although the green light was given on Thursday, the money won’t be available until the formal agreement on June 20, where the Argentine government will receive a primary installment of $15 billion. The loan will last a total of 36 months, and hopes to […]Read more...
Green outfits and heated speeches show support for legalising abortion at the Martin Fierro Awards
The Martín Fierro television and radio awards took place Sunday June 3 and many of the attendees showed their support for the legalisation of abortion, a debate that has taken over the country in recent months. The Campaign for Legal, Safe and Free Abortion has used a green handkerchief as a symbol of their cause, but the group told Clarin that there was no particular reason behind the choice of colour. However, in Argentina green has become an emblem of the fight to legalise abortion, and many at the Martín Fierro awards many took the opportunity to wear the shade […]Read more...
“A space designed by women, for women”: Media Incubator ESPACIO announces launch of ActitudFem
Media incubator Espacio announces the launch of ActitudFem, a publication dedicated to women, that aims to provide the best content for their many different interests. ActitudFem will provide advice on topics ranging from healthy eating, beauty, trendy hotspots, day-to-day advice and tips and tricks for the home. The entertainment section also brings you the latest on music, art and lifestyle: all in one place. Women are among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as the main axis of transformation. Several organizations have embarked on this important commitment to use information and communication technologies (ICT) to promote the empowerment of women […]Read more...
Argentinian Singer Gabriela Yuste passes away in Malaga, Spain
Argentinian singer Graciela Yuste has passed away in the Spanish city of Málaga, where she had been living since 2000. A singer who rose to popularity in Argentina in the 70’s left the country due to clashes with the military dictatorship that ruled the country at the time. Local news source La Opinion de Malaga reported that Yuste started singing at 18, and by 20 she had signed a record deal with Phonogram, a holding company that included the recording companies Phillips, Fontana, Vertigo and Mercury. With Phonogram she gained recognition with her song ‘Tu sangre es mi sangre’ (your […]Read more...
Teachers take to the streets in Buenos Aires as pupils miss out on another day of school
Teachers from all over the country joined the Federal Education March in Buenos Aires Wednesday to demand better salaries. La Nacion reported that the march started at 10 a.m. in different parts of the city and the groups came together in the Plaza de Mayo at around 12 p.m. From 3 p.m. there have been speeches from different members of educational groups and trade unions which can be followed live on YouTube. The teachers are calling for national equality and a new educational financing law, as well as refusing the 15% salary ceiling. More people are striking today than yesterday, […]Read more...
