Category: Argentina

Argentina’s former economy minister Roberto Lavagna has announced he may run in next year’s presidential elections. If he does decide to stand, Lavagna would be the most serious threat to date to declare against President Néstor Kirchner. However, he is a candidate without a party and will need to build an alliance before launching a bid. Lavagna served as economy minister overseeing Argentina’s economic recovery following the country’s financial meltdown in 2001-2002.

The long-running conflict between Uruguay and Argentina regarding the building of two paper mills has reached the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Hearings are due to start today, Thursday, to determine whether Uruguay has violated bilateral treaties, as Argentina claims. Argentina has accused its neighbor of giving the go-ahead to the $1.7 billion project – which represents the largest single foreign investment ever – without sufficient consultation regarding the environmental impact on the Uruguay river, which separates the two countries.

The World Bank has approved $3.3 billion of loans to Argentina over the next three years to be invested in aiding sustainable development. The loans, part of the global Country Assistance Strategy (CAS), comprise 30 separate credits to support improvements in areas such as infrastructure, health, education and the environment. The approval of the loans is seen as a vote of confidence in the country’s economic recovery after the crisis of 2001-2002.

Argentine natural gas distributor Gas Natural Ban, the local subsidiary of Spain’s Gas Natural, is to issue up to $65 million of negotiable bonds (ONs). The company is also authorized to issue up to $162 million worth of global debt. Gas Natural Ban is Argentina’s second-largest gas distributor by number of users. The company posted net losses of $2.6 million for the first quarter of this year, a 75.5% improvement on the same period last year.

Argentine holding company Pampa, the private equity investment channel set up by local Dolphin group, will seek approval from shareholders on June 16 to increase its capital by $292 million via a new share offering. Pampa raised $45.5 million at the end of May when it issued 140 million shares.

Argentina’s Central Bank has added $5.7 billion of reserves since January, when the government repaid its entire $9.8 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Reserves rose from $18.58 billion, as at January 3, to $24.26 billion as at June 3. The Central Bank claims its policy of accumulating reserves serves to protect the economy against external shocks and aims to reduce exchange rate volatility.

Argentina’s $8.3 billion quasi-par bonds, issued last year as part of that country’s debt swap program, will start to be quoted in the markets this Friday, June 2. The peso-denominated bonds are indexed against CER and have a maturity of 42 years. They are expected to trade with a yield of around 6%. The instruments are mostly held by private pension funds (AFJPs) or insurance companies.

Argentine industrial magnate Franco Macri is to be appointed senior advisor to China for investments in Latin America, according to the Chinese Association of Promotion for Industrial Development. Macri’s role will be to facilitate investment by Chinese companies into Latin America. Macri owns one of the country’s largest family-owned group and has a background in the construction and automotive industries.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to send a mission to Argentina to report on the country’s economic progress. The team, led by Ranjit Teja, the deputy director of the department for the western hemisphere, is due to arrive in the capital, Buenos Aires, on Monday and plans to stay around two weeks. Argentina cancelled its entire debt with the IMF – totaling $9.8 billion – in January this year. President Néstor Kirchner’s government has long been critical of the Fund’s role leading up to Argentina’s financial meltdown in 2001 and 2002.