The disagreements between the Argentine and Spanish presidents go back a long way: Sánchez already called Milei a “reactionary” and refused to congratulate him when he won the elections in Argentina. But things got complicated when a Spanish government minister, Oscar Puente, publicly insinuated that Milei was on drugs. The Argentine government demanded an apology from the Spanish government, which the latter refused to offer. So last weekend, at a...

In Argentina we have the first measures with Milei at the helm: devaluation of the peso by 54%, which takes it from 366 to 800 pesos per USD, forecast monthly devaluations of 2% from now on, and massive cuts in public spending (2.9% of GDP) with the aim of eliminating the primary fiscal deficit by 2024. The IMF welcomes the measures, which it believes will help stabilise the economy and...

With a turnout of 76% and 99.26% of the polling stations counted, the leader of La Libertad Avanza obtained 55.69% of the votes compared to Sergio Massa’s 44.30%. Moreover, he did so in all provinces. Milei won the elections by proposing a radical change in the system in a country jaded by traditional politics, which has experienced a 142% increase in inflation in the last 12 months and a 50%...

Bankinter| Sergio Massa has sprung a surprise and won the first round of the presidential elections in Argentina. With 99% of the votes counted and a 78% turnout, the current Minister of Economy and candidate of the current coalition governing Argentina (Unión por la Patria) obtained 36.7% of the votes. Javier Milei (La Libertad Avanza), who until now had been leading the pre-election polls, obtained 30.0% of the votes. The...

Alicia Garcia Herrero & Junyu Tan (Natixis) | After the pre-emptive announcement to suspend all foreign debt repayments until discussions for an IMF bailout are completed, on May 18 Sri Lanka stepped into the dangerous path of a sovereign default as it missed the 30-day grace period on its USD 78 million worth coupon payments originally due April 18. Against this backdrop, investors’ key question is how deep the debt...

While the new bonds may continue to benefit from a weak US dollar and the lower-for-longer global rate environment, the challenging economic outlook and ongoing uncertainty around the IMF talks will likely cap the yield compression potential.