Argentina and IMF reach "understanding"
July 24, 2023
The IMF and Argentina said a staff-level agreement of its $44 billion financing program should reached sometime this week — Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa said the deal would include August and November disbursements, necessary for the the country to payback a failed 2018 IMF bailout. (Buenos Aires Herald,Telam)
The IMF delayed a $4 billion disbursement last month, saying Argentina has fallen short on foreign exchange reserves and cutting the fiscal deficit. A record drought has cost the country $20 billion of agricultural exports.
The new agreement is a potential lifeline to keep Argentina’s “economy afloat until a new president takes office in December,” reports Bloomberg. Without the cash, Argentina risks defaulting on repayments to the multilateral lender for the 2018 loan.
The country’s foreign reserves have fallen to critical levels — and the Central Bank has sought to avoid a major devaluation of the peso three months before the presidential election.
But new tax and currency measures starting today will in effect devalue the peso as part of the deal, according Reuters. The Economy Ministry announced a new preferential exchange rate for agricultural exports and levies on imports, reports the Financial Times.
Guatemala
Guatemalan police raided the headquarters of the opposition Semilla party on Friday, saying it was carrying out a 12 July court order that had canceled the party’s legal status. Presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo said the move was a “flagrant demonstration of … political persecution,” just a month before a high-stakes runoff election. (Reuters)
Guatemala’s top court has granted the party an injunction and ruled that there are no legal impediments to Arévalo competing in the runoff. (See last Friday’s post.)
Hundreds of protesters, yesterday in Guatemala City, called for the resignation of attorney general Consuelo Porras and other judicial officials, who they accuse of interference in the electoral process. (Prensa Libre)
Several social organizations were organizing what could turn into a “national strike” today, aimed at rejecting electoral irregularities ahead of the August runoff, reports Prensa Libre.
Brazil
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed an order to tighten gun controls. The move fulfills a campaign promise to revert his predecessor’s signature loosening of firearm regulations that led to a surge in gun ownership. (BBC)
Migration
A new IDB, UNDP, and OECD report explores immigrant integration across 12 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Findings include a higher rate of employment in the informal sector for immigrants, notes Reuters. (Via Americas Migration Brief.)
“A group of organizations denounced yesterday that agents of the General Directorate of Migration (DGM) entered the Hospital Materno Infantil Nuestra Señora de La Altagracia in Higüey to imprison Haitian migrants who were pregnant, giving birth, and others with their newborn children,” reports Dominican Today. (Via Americas Migration Brief.)
Venezuela
Venezuela’s oil industry has been decimated by mismanagement and several years of U.S. sanctions. The state-owned oil company’s struggle to maintain minimal production has been carried out without basic maintenance and relied on increasingly shoddy equipment that has led to a growing environmental toll, reports the New York Times.
“So Foul a Sky,” a documentary by director Álvaro F Pulpeiro, is a “courageous lament for Venezuela’s oil-stained self-destruction,” according to the Guardian.
Chile
The Santiago Boys, a new, nine-part podcast series, written, researched and presented by the technology writer Evgeny Morozov, delves into the story of the Chilean Allende government’s Cybersyn Project, a futuristic plan for a modern socialist economy. (Guardian)
Mexico
“Amid a historic heatwave and months of drought, Mexico’s government has launched the latest phase of a cloud seeding project it hopes will increase rainfall,” reports the Guardian.
Eleven people were killed and four injured in a suspected arson attack at a bar in Mexico’s Sonora state on Saturday. (New York Times, Washington Post)
Ecuador
The mayor of Ecuador’s Manta city, Agustín Intriago, was killed in an attack Sunday. Ariana Estefanía Chancay, a local female footballer, also died. (BBC)
Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso said he plans to issue at least six new legal decrees and seek major changes to the country’s capital market before he leaves office in early December, reports Bloomberg.
Regional Relations
“David Morales, owner of the Spanish security company UC Global, S.L., which spied on Julian Assange during the Wikileaks founder’s time at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, also allegedly spied for the CIA on meetings held in 2018 by the former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa (2007-2017), with former presidents of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay … according to a new examination of his MacBook laptop ordered by Spanish Judge Santiago Pedraz,” reports El País.
Regional
The latest outbreak of bird flu is ravaging South America, with 200,000 deaths recorded in Peru alone, reports the Guardian.
Bolivia
The total of Bolivia’s confirmed lithium resources has increased 2 million tons to 23 million tons, according to President Luis Arce, further cementing the country’s global leadership for lithium deposits, reports the Associated Press.
Culture Corner
Bossa nova pioneer, João Donato, a Brazilian composer, musician and producer, died last week at age 88. “Mr. Donato didn’t confine himself to any genre. … He once said he had a ‘sweet tooth for funky ideas.’”(New York Times)