Low Temperatures & more –15th June 2023

¡Buenos días from Greenway Parks! This is the Rorshok Argentina Update from the 15th of June twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Argentina.

Leave your shorts, skirts and sundresses at home: although later than usual, the cold has hit Argentina and the National Meteorological Service issued a yellow alert for extreme low temperatures in the city of Buenos Aires and sixteen provinces. The coldest city this week was Villa Reynolds in the province of San Luis, reaching minus eleven degrees Celsius (or twelve degrees Fahrenheit).

We should expect a few chilly days in the upcoming weeks in most of the country, so grab a sweater and hot beverage to stay cozy inside.

Speaking of cold, Argentina’s seven bases in Antarctica have joined the National Health Surveillance System, a joint initiative between the Ministries of Health and Defense to improve the capacity for early detection, and effective, and timely response to public health risks. In other words, to improve access to medicines, equipment and assistance in the different Antarctic bases.

Since we’re on the topic of health, the Health Ministry issued a resolution that allows people to get the emergency contraceptive pill, also known as the morning-after pill, without a medical prescription. The measure was implemented in time for the International Day of Action for Women’s Health, and it’s already in force.

The emergency contraceptive pill is free of charge at healthcare facilities across the country and must be covered by all medical insurance plans. There are no restrictions as to who can get these pills. The age, gender identity, or the lack of an ID card don’t matter.

On that note about restrictions, those imposed on the access to foreign currency are causing problems for low-cost airlines. Almost forty flights from the Flybondi airline were canceled last week after two planes of its fleet had to be grounded. The company said that they were eleven million dollars short over the last two months, but the government denied the dollars.

Also having issues sending dividends abroad is the Brazilian banking giant Banco Itaú, which has decided to leave Argentina. The bank has started preliminary negotiations with a local financial institution, Banco Macro, over the sale of Itaú’s operations in the country.

The Brazilian bank has not achieved its goals in Argentina, failing to challenge the larger domestic players. Banco Macro, on the other side, is one of the leading private banks in Argentina.

The good news is that workers will see a bit more money in their bank accounts after an update on the income tax floor. Salaries whose gross monthly average does not top 880,000 pesos (or 1,800 dollars at the parallel exchange rate) in the first half of this year will be exempt from income tax.

That’s as good as it gets in terms of economic news. Last week, analysts published a new inflation estimate, and they forecast almost 150% inflation in twenty twenty-three. This is outlined in the Central Bank’s latest survey of market expectations, and it represents a rise of twenty-three points on the previous estimate issued by the same group of experts.

Back to the topic of foreign currency, more and more companies are starting to use Chinese yuan to pay debts to international suppliers that were originally in dollars. Newsan, the Argentine producer of electronics and household appliances, is one of them.

This will immediately relieve pressure on the Central Bank, which has the equivalent of ten billion dollars in yuan thanks to the expansion of the currency swap Economy Minister Sergio Massa negotiated in Beijing.

Speaking of debt, the province of Córdoba will have to meet a debt payment after a court blocked the government’s latest capital controls. The provincial government will make a 120 million principal payment to bondholders, although it has principal debt payments of more than 250 million dollars.

The government had announced earlier in June that provinces wouldn’t be allowed to access more than forty percent of the dollars they need to pay maturing debt on the official market. There is a reason the government is willing to take the risk of pushing some provinces into restructuring their debts, and that is because the Central Bank reserves are at an all-time low.

The Neuquén province had a better week than Córdoba. On Friday the 9th Economy Minister announced that the American multinational energy corporation Chevron Corp confirmed it will invest some 500 million dollars to develop the El Trapial field in the Vaca Muerta deposit. In exchange, Chevron received guarantees from the government that the company will be able to sell abroad one-fifth of its hydrocarbons production at zero-percent export tax.

Since we brought up the Economy Minister, we have to talk about his declarations at a congress staged by his Frente Renovador party. On Saturday the 10th, Massa called for the Frente de Todos coalition (which includes the Frente Renovador party since they joined forces in twenty nineteen) to field a unity candidate in the PASO primaries.

Massa is seen as one of the Peronist front’s most promising candidates for the presidential race, but he has been reluctant to confirm whether he’ll be a candidate or not. On Saturday, the 10th however, he said that if key coalition leaders did opt for a PASO, his political space would sign up and compete.

The fact of the matter is, a bunch of provincial governors have also called for a unified Frente de Todos ticket. But with several names in circulation and little consensus on who should be the presidential candidate, this plea has little chance of coming to pass.

On that note about the elections, four provinces elected new governors on Sunday the 11th. The Juntos por el Cambio coalition surprised everyone with an upset win in the province of San Luis, and they also consolidated their power in Mendoza and Corrientes. Meanwhile, Frente de Todos won big in Tucumán.

In other news, the month of April marked a new record in tourism. Over 600,000 foreign travelers reached Argentina, thus setting a year-on-year increase of 105%, a historical record for this month. These figures represented a surplus for Argentina, since only 530,000 nationals went abroad in the same month.

Maybe it was one of those travelers who took to the digital news outlet Insider to share her experience visiting Buenos Aires for the first time. A new article sums up the top nine things that a Los Angeles native found most surprising about the Argentine capital, including Messi-inspired street art and the variety of sweets and vegetarian dishes. We’ll include the link in the show notes in case you want to know more.

Another recommended read for the foodies is the new article published by the online guidebook Fodor’s Travel. Titled “Bar Crawl Through Buenos Aires’ Dazzling Speakeasies,” the piece lists the top ten hidden bars in Buenos Aires City, along with a brief recount of the author’s experience visiting each one. Link in the show notes!

Speaking of tourism, remember that we have a long weekend coming up, with the 20th being a holiday and the 19th a bridge public holiday to encourage tourism. The 20th of June commemorates the death anniversary of Manuel Belgrano, who was an important figure in Argentina’s struggle for independence. This day is also known as Flag Day as the Argentine flag was created by Belgrano.

In schools across the country, kids in fourth grade pledge allegiance to the flag in a ceremony that usually takes place around this time of the year. Additionally, in the city of Rosario, the birthplace of Manuel Belgrano, a major ceremony is organized at the National Flag Memorial.

And that's it for this week. Another quick question. How are we doing on bias? Ax grinding? We try to be independent and stick to the facts and context with favor and fear of none. How are we doing? So do we seem even a teensy bit biased? Tell us at argentina@rorshok.com

¡Nos vemos la próxima semana!