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FINANCIAL CRISIS 2022 Argentines Withdraw $1 Billion From Bank Accounts During Turmoil ... Withdrawals started when ex-Minister Guzman resigned in July 
Sergio Massa, Argentina's new 'superminister' for the economy Original article: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-23/argentines-withdraw-1-billion-from-bank-accounts-amid-turmoil Original article: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentinas-ambitious-superminister-takes-economic-crisis-2022-08-05/ Peter Burgess COMMENTARY I am unimpressed by most modern academic economic analysis and even less by economic reporting ... it seems to me to be far too superficial and quite unhelpful. The reporting about the economic situation in Argenitina has something of this pattern. I don't seem to get much of an understanding of what is going wrong with the economy of Argentina and, perhaps even more important, what is going right. When Argentine was 'in the news' a lot during the Peronist regime, the international media that I was reading seemed to blame the regime for everything. I knew a little bit about the economy of Argenitina, but it was only a little bit, and in the intervening years I have little idea about what has changed and what has stayed the same. A recurring theme in my own thinking is that coal and steam were technology drivers of economic improvement for the best part of a century until the 1950s (say). The size of the global economy was quite modest with the world population quite small as well as per capita consumption ... and for most of this time economic activity did rather modest damage to the global environment. Growing up in the UK, with grandparents living in the industrial North of England ... Lancashire and Yorkshire ... I learnt something about industrial pollution at an early age, or at any rate the particulate pollution associated with burning soft coal. I remember the phrase 'Where there's muck, there's brass (money)' and adult concern when the factory smokestacks were not belching out dark black smoke which was an indication that the factory was operating and not 'on strike' of closed down. My immediate family lived in London and later in Devon which had a very diffierent economic bases ... finance and agriculture rather than mining and manufacturing ... clear sectors rather than dirty industry! In my adult lifetime, I don't think we have been well served by the simplistic concept of 'left' and right' in politics and in common conversation. In my own case, in US terms, I tend to embrace some of the conservatism from the 'right' and some of progressive policies associated with the 'left'. I cannot embrace much of the modern ... that is Trump era ... Republican talking point (and lies) and am seriously depressed by the lack of clear messaging by the Democrats and their high level of internal bickering amongst themselves as they try to 'get it all, won't compromise, and eventually lose and get nothing'. I cannot understand why, in the United States, Democrats, with core Progressive policy planks do not get 80% of the vote ... rather than struggling to get 50% of the vote. The Democrats have a lot to say, but cannot do effective 'messaging' and the Republicans have really nothing to offer the majority of Americans but have highly effective 'measaging' and related 'vote getting schemes' especially at the State and Local Levels. There is a lot more to say about US politics ... and about politics and policy in every country in the world. Sadly, it has also become commonplace to be critical of international organizations like the UN and the Bretton Woods' institutions, which is a pity since that do an enormous amount of good with, generally speaking, a rather modest and totally inadequate level of funding. Peter Burgess | ||
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Argentines Withdraw $1 Billion From Bank Accounts During Turmoil ... Withdrawals started when ex-Minister Guzman resigned in July
Written by Patrick Gillespie @Pat_Gillespie August 23, 2022 at 12:28 PM EDT Argentines have withdrawn a little more than $1 billion in dollar deposits from the country’s banking system over the past seven weeks, as the government struggles to convince them that their currency will stabilize. Savers started pulling out their dollars from bank accounts at a fast pace when former Economy Minister Martin Guzman resigned on July 2, plunging the government deeper into crisis. Argentina’s third economy minister since then, Sergio Massa, enjoyed a brief market rally upon arrival before deposits declined again. Deposit Decline Argentines have steadily withdrawn over $1 billion of dollar deposits since former Minister Martin Guzman resigned 
Source: Argentina Central Bank While some dollar deposits make up a portion of Argentina’s foreign reserves, which are also in decline, they’re not considered part of the central bank’s net reserves because they typically can’t be spent to prop up the currency. Total deposits have fallen to $14.55 billion as of Aug. 16, central bank data shows, less than half the peak level of about $32 billion seen in 2019 before a primary vote showed President Alberto Fernandez would go on to win the election. Argentines withdrew several billions of dollars in deposits between that vote and Fernandez’s inauguration. Deposits offer an almost real-time pulse of Argentines’ economic expectations. In late 2001 during one of the country’s worst crisis, the government banned large ATM withdrawals, helping to fuel social chaos. ------------------------------------ Argentina's ambitious 'superminister' takes on economic crisis By Eliana Raszewski and Lucila Sigal August 5, 2022 ... 3:20 PM EDT (Accessed September 2022) BUENOS AIRES, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Asked about Sergio Massa, Argentina's new 'superminister' for the economy, many Argentines perceive him as an opportunistic politician with limitless ambition. But Massa's political acumen, honed over four decades of party-hopping activism, is also widely seen as key to rescuing Argentina's economy, which has been ravaged by sky-high inflation, crippling debt as well as chronic overspending. Earlier this week, the 50-year-old lawyer and former congressional leader for the ruling center-left Peronist coalition was sworn in as economy chief by President Alberto Fernandez. Massa's move is widely seen as a stepping stone to a future presidential run, but only if he can quickly show results. read more To do just that, the newly dubbed 'superminister' insisted on broad powers before accepting the daunting task, including control over the agriculture, production and trade secretariats, which have previously acted independently. 'He's a very capable person, exceptionally prepared. But he's also a huge pragmatist, and that's why he decided to form an alliance with the government,' said legislator Margarita Stolbizer. In 2017, Stolbizer joined forces with Massa in a Senate run against leftist Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the country's powerful vice president and former president, who is now a key Massa backer. His resourcefulness gave him what his predecessors were unable to obtain: the thumbs-up from the vice president to carry out more orthodox cost-cutting policies, which Fernandez de Kirchner had spurned when proposed by others in the past. His resourcefulness gave him what his predecessors were unable to obtain: the thumbs-up from the vice president to carry out more orthodox cost-cutting policies, which Fernandez de Kirchner had spurned when proposed by others in the past. Massa's backing by all the ruling coalition's warring factions gives him a leg up compared with his immediate predecessors, longtime Economy Minister Martin Guzman as well as his short-lived successor, Silvina Batakis, according to political analyst Carlos Fara. 'The crisis has made everyone more pragmatic, and that allows Massa to propose things that surely wouldn't have been accepted from Batakis and even less so from Guzman,' said Fara. On Wednesday, Massa announced a series of austerity measures, plus moves designed to boost dwindling foreign reserves, during his first day on the job. read more SUPERHERO? Massa began his political career in the late 1980s in the conservative Union of the Democratic Center party. From 2002 to 2007 he was a Peronist government official and later mayor of Tigre, a suburban area outside Buenos Aires where he lives. He then became chief of staff of then-President Fernandez de Kirchner, but resigned after less than a year. In 2013, Massa founded a new party called the Renewal Front, which eventually joined forces with other Peronist factions to create a center-left group that went on to defeat ex-President Mauricio Macri's coalition in the 2019 election. Over the past decade, Argentina's rough and tumble politics, amplified by the deepening economic crisis, have taken a toll on Massa's popularity. Nearly 55% of people hold a negative view of Massa, while about 63% say they would never vote for him if he ran for president, according to a recent survey from Management & Fit image consultancy. As the country limps to next year's presidential election, Massa will be put to the ultimate test. A successful performance as superminister will be crucial for his own future political prospects - not to mention vital for the near-term health of South America's second-biggest economy. 'Massa is so ambitious. He's dreamed all his life of being president,' said businessman Gregorio Feldman. 'He'll end up either a superhero or get eaten alive.' Reporting by Eliana Raszewski and Lucila Sigal in Buenos Aires Additional reporting by Hernan Nessi and Belen Liotti in Buenos Aires Writing by Kylie Madry Editing by Matthew Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
1/3 ... Argentina's new Economy Minister Sergio Massa talks to the media after being sworn in, at the Economy Ministry in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Matias Baglietto
2/3 ... Argentina's new Economy Minister Sergio Massa talks to the media after being sworn in, at the Economy Ministry in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Matias Baglietto
3/3 ... Sergio Massa, newly sworn-in as Argentina's new economy minister, signs documents next to Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez at the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Matias Baglietto
| The text being discussed is available at | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-23/argentines-withdraw-1-billion-from-bank-accounts-amid-turmoil and https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentinas-ambitious-superminister-takes-economic-crisis-2022-08-05/ |