© Archyde.com/AGUSTIN MARCARIAN
Front of the Casa Rosada, seat of the Government of Argentina, in Buenos Aires
By Jorge Otaola
BUENOS AIRES, March 4 (Archyde.com) – Argentine bonds and stocks shed strong positions on Friday in line with a notable increase in global risk aversion due to the crisis in Ukraine and the safety of its nuclear plants, leaving relief aside. product to an agreement between the South American country and the IMF.
Argentina closed an agreement with the credit organization to restructure some 45,000 dollars, which will postpone the upcoming debt payments in the midst of an economic program that includes a reduction in the fiscal deficit, among other points.
“Assets fall today (Friday) because of what happens abroad,” said economist Rodolfo Santángelo, who believed that the agreement with the IMF “is a fiscal and monetary straitjacket, with a hidden devaluation.”
The program with the Fund still has to be discussed by the Argentine Congress and the agency’s board for approval, amid discrepancies within the local legislative office.
* Over-the-counter sovereign debt fell by a strong 2.3% average, led by the most dynamic dollarized issues. The benchmark bond Bonar 2030 lost 2.8%.
* The Argentine country risk prepared by the bank JP.Morgan soared 68 basis points, to 1,928 units around 2000 GMT), heading to its historical maximum of 1,969 units at the end of January.
* “If the National Congress approves the program and the IMF board also approves it, it would be expected that (… about) 9.8 billion dollars would enter that day or the next day,” said Argentine Economy Minister Martin Guzmán, in radio statements.
* He stated that “the only possible way if we want to refinance that debt and have more time to repay it is to reach an agreement that allows us to have that financing; that the IMF itself sends us the dollars with which to refinance the debt that the previous government took “.
* The stock market benchmark S&P Merval lost 2.23%, to 89,515.44 points as a provisional closing, highlighting the declines in highly liquid energy and financial stocks.
* Argentina’s state oil company YPF finds it difficult for the sector to adjust local prices to rising international levels, CEO Sergio Affronti said on Friday.
* The exchange activity at the official level kept the wholesale peso with a devaluation of 0.09%, at 108.13/108.14 per dollar, where the central bank (BCRA) regulated the supply and demand of foreign currency due to its reduced reserves .
* “The central bank ended its participation with purchases for 25 million dollars and ended the first week of March accumulating purchases for 90 million dollars,” said the exchange operator Gustavo Quintana.
* In other markets, the currency within the informal range recovered to 201 units, the stock market alternative “counted with liquidation” (CCL) closed in the area of 201.3 and in the demanded “dollar MEP” it did so at 196, 2 per unit.
* Added to fears about the future of the domestic economy is the strong aversion to risk as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which creates doubts about the near future of global activity.
(Reporting by Jorge Otaola; With the collaboration of Hernán Nessi; Editing by Walter Bianchi)