Argentina announces relief package

Peso opens 12.3% weaker at 61 per US dollar after Mauricio Macri announces measures

BUENOS AIRES: Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Wednesday unveiled a package of welfare subsidies and lower taxes for workers to lessen the impact of an economic crisis just months before a re-election bid, but his announcement did not immediately halt the peso currency’s collapse.

The peso opened 12.3% weaker at 61 per US dollar after Macri announced the measures, but recovered to be down 4.77% later in the morning.



It was the third consecutive day of heavy losses in the peso due to market concerns about politicians’ ability to drag Argentina out of another round of recession and high inflation.

Argentina’s Merval stock index was up 1.5% at the open, after plunging more than 31% since the start of the week. Macri said he would raise the income tax bracket floor by 20%, paving the way for a tax cut for two million workers. The tax break will be about 2,000 extra pesos ($34) per month per person.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15^th, 2019.

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