Argentina’s new government announced the issuance of $1.326 billion of dollar-denominated Treasury Bills, to be directly subscribed by the central bank (BCRA), according to a decree published today in the Official Gazette. They will expire on Dec. 30 2029 with interest payable semi-annually. The rate will depend on the interest accrued by the central bank’s foreign reserves and capped at the annual LIBOR rate minus one percentage point.
Oil company YPF shipped 130,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the port of Bahía Blanca to the port of Barcelona, Spain. Similar shipments had been completed in May and November 2019 when the Tango FLNG barge began operations in the Argentine port by processing gas coming mainly from Vaca Muerta and then transferring it to the methane ships for their final destination.
The consultant Elypsis estimated the rise in prices at 4.2% in December, raising inflation to 54.5% in 2019, the highest since 1991 when it registered 84%. “We project that January will move with an inflation of 3.8% and for all 2020 we keep our annual inflation projection at 43.8% for now,” says its latest report.
The prices of the Basic Food Basket increase between 5% and 9% from this Thursday as a result of the application of VAT that had been exempted last August. Milk is the only product that will not undergo changes due to an agreement between the government, producers and supermarkets. Those products considered non-basic will increase up to 21%.
Brand-new vehicles sales averaged an annual drop of 42.7% and during 2019 only 459,592 were patented, according to data from the Association of Automobile Dealers (ACARA). During December this year the number of registered new vehicles was 17.8% less than the level reached in November, and 25.20% less in the year-to- year comparison.
