April 19th, 2024
1. Llao Llao Forum: presidents, businessmen and politicians gathered in Bariloche
During the week, the Llao Llao Forum took place, an event that brings together the elite of businessmen and politicians to hold talks and discuss ideas on current geopolitical issues, technological transformations and the role of the private sector in the region. The event was attended by the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, and the President of the Republic of Paraguay, Santiago Peña, who encouraged regional discussions on economics and politics and the insertion of Argentina in the world context. From the private sector, notable participants were businessmen Marcos Galperin (Mercado Libre), Martín Migoya and Guibert Englebienne, both founders of Globant, founding members of the forum, which took institutional form in 2015 but was already meeting informally at the hotel owned by Eduardo Elsztain, president of IRSA. The event is expected to be closed this afternoon by the President of Argentina, Javier Milei.
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2. The government sent to Congress the draft fiscal package
The Casa Rosada sent to Congress the bill with the fiscal package that will be debated in the Chamber of Deputies simultaneously with the Omnibus Law. The ruling party expects to have both initiatives approved in the first days of May in order to be able to forward them to the Senate and have them approved before the 25th of that same month, on which date it expects to sign the May Pact on State policies with the provinces. The same is a 102-article bill which refers to moratorium, laundering of taxes, personal property, income, small taxpayers’ regime and fiscal transparency. According to the text of the bill, “the National State is obliged to balance its fiscal accounts, and for this purpose it must rely on two fundamental pillars: the reduction of public expenditure and the improvement in tax collection.” In this context, the Fiscal Package initiative is currently under discussion in the Budget and Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies.
3. The Minister of Economy had a meeting with the IMF
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, held a meeting with the First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Gita Gopinath. The meeting between the Argentinean official and the IMF representative lasted half an hour and covered, among other issues, the eighth review of the agreement between Argentina and the Fund, which should be completed in May in order to receive new reimbursements. For the same, the Fund is waiting for the success of the agreements that the reform projects may reach in Congress. However, although Argentina is seeking additional funds to get out of the exchange rate hedge, it is still premature to talk about the outcome of the next review. Even so, the meeting was described as “positive” and “constructive.”
4. The senate approved the 6 ambassadors proposed by the government and international agreements
The plenary of the Senate unanimously approved this Thursday, with 67 votes in favor and none against, the nomination of six ambassadors proposed by Javier Milei. Thus, Gerardo Werthein (United States), Guillermo Nielsen (Paraguay), Mariano Caucino (India), Ian Sielecki (France), Sonia Cavallo (Organization of American States-OAS) and Axel Wahnish (Israel) were activated as representatives of the country abroad. On the other hand, with 67 affirmative votes and zero negative votes, the Senate gave final approval to the Agreement that eliminates International Roaming charges to Mercosur telephony end users and to the Law that establishes the National Day of Evangelical and Protestant Churches. In the same vote, it also gave half approval to 17 other international agreements – on Trade Facilitation; mutual protection of geographical indications, public procurement and Electronic Commerce in Mercosur; Air Services with Paraguay and the Czech Republic; repression of illegal acts related to international civil aviation; extradition; social security; maritime navigation; fishing and cooperation for the prevention and fight against illicit traffic and restitution of cultural property. Only Agenda 14/24, regarding the Treaty with Ukraine on the transfer of sentenced persons, was postponed due to political agreement among the House blocs. However, the highlight of the day was that, towards the end of the session, the senators requested to deal with a draft resolution on tables and approved an increase in their per diem. They did so by a show of hands and without debate, and the salaries in hand would go from $1.7 million to more than $4 million as of next June.
5. The government ordered 21 private medical companies to roll back their prices after significant price hikes
The Government requested 21 private medicine companies, among which are important prepayment companies and hospitals, to backtrack with the increases and to backtrack prices to December 2023. This is due to the fact that the Government denounced a disproportionate increase in the prices of their services as a result of a deregulation of the sector proposed by Javier Milei’s team when he assumed the Executive Power. “This is the result of an anticipated guardianship issued as a result of a complaint for alleged cartelization,” said the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, on Wednesday. Now, the Government will ask the Justice to force them to return what they increased above the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and for the next 6 months they will also have to adjust their values according to this index.
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