CHILE | Trans-Pacific Partnership membership officialised. Chile’s foreign ministry on 21 February announced that the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) had finally come into force in the country, with Chile taking part in its first virtual meeting as an official member of the trade agreement a day earlier. The senate ratified Chile’s membership of the CPTPP in October of last year, three years after it was first approved in the lower house. Chile is the 11th signatory to the trade deal, alongside Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam.
ARGENTINA | Drought impacts fiscal deficit. Argentina posted a primary fiscal deficit of Ar$203.9bn (US$1.02bn), or 0.12% of GDP, in January 2023, the economy ministry reported on 22 February. This is a marked increase on the Ar$16.7bn fiscal deficit recorded in January 2022, but it is however an improvement on the Ar$502.1bn deficit registered the previous month, in December. Argentina closed 2022 with a primary fiscal deficit of Ar$1.9trn, the equivalent of 2.4% of GDP. The government’s 2023 budget expects a primary deficit of 1.9% of GDP this year. The economy ministry noted that the January primary deficit was impacted by lower revenues from export taxes as a “severe drought had a major impact on the yield of the main exportable products”.
ARGENTINA | Government conducts local debt swap. Argentina’s economy ministry announced on 9 March that it swapped Ar$4.34trn (US$21.66bn) in domestic debt in loans due to mature in March, April, May, and June. The swap exchanges old debt for new bonds maturing in 2024 and 2025, according to an economy ministry statement. On Twitter, finance secretary Eduardo Setti stated the aim of the debt swap was to “extend the short maturity profile to the middle and long end of the curve”, which he said would “reduce market uncertainty and volatility and improve the conditions of confidence and predictability of the Treasury’s financing”.
Brazil & Southern Cone: inflation rate
Percentage variation (year-on-year)
Brazil & Southern Cone: GDP growth (%)
Quarterly figures are year-on-year growth
