Argentina is going through one of the worst phases in its history democracy and it does so by increasingly linking itself to China, its main trading partner. Presidential elections in October: the Peronists of the outgoing majority choose Sergio massa.
Argentina and the financial crisis
Argentina, in the midst of one of the biggest financial crises of its history, chooses the candidates for the elections of 22 October. With a inflation rate which was up 114% year over year in May, a poverty rate close to 40% and an increasingly unfavorable exchange rate with the dollar, to the point that by now more and more businesses adopt the yuan directly for trade with China (the world's leading partner), the country that was once the largest economy in South America and richer than Italy and France, actually brought forward the primaries - which are mandatory in Argentina - on 13 August , given that the candidates are already all armored.
The Peronists choose Massa after the bankruptcy of Fernandez
This is above all the case of the government party, the Peronists of Uniòn por la Patria, who, given the bankruptcy of the current president, Alberto Fernandez, have little chance of reconfirming themselves and for this very reason they have decided to channel all their energies towards a single candidate, the Minister of the Economy Sergio massa. "For political, institutional and social responsibility, our party has decided to present a single list in the next elections", wrote the Peronist party on Twitter in thanking the two sacrificed, the Minister of the Interior Eduardo de Pedro and above all Daniel Scioli, an important exponent of the majority, currently Argentine ambassador to Brazil but already vice president and candidate in 2015, when he lost to Mauricio Macri.
Larreta and Bullrich the challengers
The governor of Buenos Aires will challenge Massa, with a good chance of overcoming him Horacio Larreta, by Juntos por el Cambio, e Patricia Bullrich, ex-president of Macri's center-right party, Propuesta Republicana. In the background, the prices of the outsider are also rising Javier Milei, far-right populist, who according to some polls could even win. The August primaries, given that the candidates have already been chosen, will in fact be anticipated presidential elections, in which the exponents will be able to measure their effective consent before the final rush which will end on October 22nd or, in the case of the second round, on October 19th. November.
Debt renegotiation
Sergio Massa will hardly convince the voters, given that he was at the helm of the economy precisely in one of the most tragic phases, but he is certainly an authoritative candidate. Appointed exactly one year ago, he is a 51-year-old lawyer and has a moderate profile, in fact he was called to manage the crisis prudently and lead the country towards the elections, trying to save what could be saved. Appreciated by the markets and by the international community, Massa has been managing to negotiate Argentina's debt not only towards the International Monetary Fund but also towards individual creditor countries.
Already in 2022 Buenos Aires obtained with some members of the "Club of Paris", a group of creditor countries, the postponement of payment to 2028, while just the last few days is the news of a bilateral agreement with France, Spain and Sweden, after that already achieved with Italy and other Western countries. Instead, Argentina renegotiated the agreement with the IMF in 2022 for a monstrous loan of 44 billion dollars, of which 29 billion has already been received. On 23 June, the South American country was supposed to repay a tranche of 2,7 billion dollars, but obtained the postponement of one week, to 30 June, thanks to the intercession of Brazil and 5 other South American countries.
Brazil to help Argentina
Just the Brazil is particularly active in trying to lend a hand to the neighboring country, not only for political reasons (Lula and Fernandez belong to the same family of Latin American socialism) but also because the two economies are strongly linked: Brasilia imports raw materials, Buenos Aires buys industrial products . That's why Lula is trying to get in Argentina in the Brics Bank, in order to obtain other financing (or at least to protect the exports of Brazilian companies) and recently, in a meeting with Fernandez, he relaunched the proposal a single currency, limited only to exchanges between the two countries but already rejected several times by economists.
Argentina and relations with China
In the meantime, Argentina is getting by as it can: the latest trend is that of increasingly cling to Beijing, its main strategic partner. Even Bloomberg found that using the yuan in Buenos Aires is reaching record levels given the increasingly unfavorable exchange rate against the dollar, while the Chinese currency is trading at a seven-month low: "Yuan for everybody", wrote the American financial newspaper, reporting that the yuan is now worth a third of the money market and that already more than 500 companies in Argentina have asked to pay for imports in renmimbi. The article mentions Whirlpool but in general it refers to electronic, textile, oil and mining companies.
