March 28th, 2025
1. Argentina had the highest industrial decline in the world in 2024
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) warned that Argentina recorded the largest industrial decline in 2024, out of a group of 79 countries. It contracted 9.4% on average during the last year with respect to the previous period. The analysis of the information comes from Misión Productiva, a network of professionals that promotes the debate on “development, production, innovation and quality employment.. The information is derived from the global monitoring of industrial variations, where the Argentine average was “the worst recorded among economies in different regions of the world.”
Ámbito: Aseguran que la Argentina fue el país con mayor caída industrial del mundo en 2024
2. Luis Caputo announces the figure agreed with the IMF
The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, confirmed that the national government intends that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approves an amount of US$20 billion for Argentina. According to the head of the Treasury Palace, he requested authorization from the organization to disclose the amount due to the turbulences and uncertainty generated in the last weeks. In addition, the minister said that negotiations are open with the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) for an “additional package of free availability” in order to strengthen the Central Bank’s reserves. “That is the objective of the new agreement. When one looks at the gross reserves and adds to it what is coming, the reserves are going to go up to US$50 million,” he indicated. From the very beginning, Javier Milei’s government made it clear that the new amounts will be used to replace the Treasury Bills at the Central Bank with debt from the Fund and that, on the contrary, they will not be used to intervene in the exchange market.
3. Candidates are defined in CABA
Tomorrow the puzzle of the next legislative elections in the City of Buenos Aires will be completed. After the alliances that will compete on May 18 were announced last week, Saturday at midnight is the deadline for these spaces to present the lists with their candidates. In the meantime, the forces with the highest voting intentions are playing a silent game: none of them revealed yet all their candidacies. When putting the magnifying glass on the candidacies themselves, the alliance Es Ahora Buenos Aires – which includes the Porteño PJ and its allied forces – will have the national deputy Leandro Santoro as the main visible face. The Buenos Aires government will compete under the name of Buenos Aires First. In the eyes of the Macri family, the person who fits all these boxes is María Eugenia Vidal. Equally important is the issue of candidacies for La Libertad Avanza, which has no important leaders with experience in the City: in terms of knowledge, there are national officials and, as an alternative plan, personalities from the civil society or from the economic universe. The presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, is the one everyone is targeting.
El Cronista: Quiénes son los posibles candidatos porteños: definiciones en PRO y el enigma Adorni
4. Argentina’s economic activity grew by 6.5%
In the first month of 2025, Argentina’s economic activity grew by 6.5% compared to January of the previous year, according to the Monthly Estimator of Economic Activity (EMAE) from INDEC. Additionally, a 0.6% increase was recorded compared to December 2024. When analyzing economic sectors, it was observed that 10 of them experienced increases in January, with Financial Intermediation (25.7% y/y) and Wholesale and Retail Trade and Repairs (11.3% y/y) standing out. On the other hand, five sectors recorded decreases, with Fishing (-3.8% y/y) and Hotels and Restaurants (-2.8% y/y) being the most affected. Additionally, the activities of Public Administration and Defense, Compulsory Social Security Plans (-1.7% y/y) and Other Community, Social and Personal Service Activities (-2.6% y/y) have the highest negative impact and, together with the two previously mentioned, subtract 0.22 percentage points from the year-over-year growth of the EMAE.
INDEC: Estimador mensual de actividad Económica de enero 2025
5. After Caputo’s IMF announcement, Argentine bonds and bank stocks rise on Wall Street
Following Economy Minister Luis Caputo’s press conference announcement that the government is negotiating a new US$20 billion loan with the IMF (International Monetary Fund), markets responded positively. Although the parallel dollar had reached a value of 1,300 Argentine pesos, it remained stable after the announcement. Additionally, Argentine bank ADRs traded in dollars on Wall Street operated with gains of around 5%, and Argentina’s Global bond prices increased: the short end of the curve advances 0.39% in the Global 2029, while the GD30 rises 0.56%. In the middle section, the Global bonds maturing in 2035 and 2038 increase by 0.45% and 0.25%; and finally, the longest-term bonds bounce back by 0.34% and 0.25% respectively.
Clarín: Suben los mercados tras el anuncio de Caputo, pero sin euforia