Boletin Septiembre05
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THE ARGENTINE EMBASSY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM ECONOMIC & COMMERCIAL SECTION 65 Brook St. London W1K 4AH Tel: 020 7318-1300 Fax: 020 7318-1331 [email protected] www.argentine-embassy-uk.org NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2005 Content ARGENTINE ECONOMIC OVERVIEW *Extracts from the statement made by President Néstor Kirchner at the United Nations General Assembly (14 September 2005) FINANCIAL SECTOR *Private debt restructuring – Telecom Argentina reached an agreement with its creditors *Argentina cancelled its auction of the new Boden 2015 bonds INVESTMENTS IN ARGENTINA *Investment increased by 24.4% in the second quarter of 2005 *Internal report from the Ministry of Economy on investment and its crucial role in the Argentine economy recovery *Investment in the meat industry *The textile industry could receive investments for 3bn pesos in five years *Bunge Argentina inaugurates a new port facility in Ramallo *The Canadian mining company Barrick Gold started its operations in San Juan *Intel, the world’s largest microchip maker, announces the implementation of two IT projects in Argentina *The Mexican Group Posadas will invest US$ 3.2 million in Argentina *Investments of 1bn pesos in public works NEWS *The Argentine economy grew by 7.8% in July 2005 *Industry activity grew by 7.6% in August 2005 *Primary fiscal surplus of 1.8bn pesos in August 2005 *Tax collection rose by 21.2% in August 2005 *Consumer prices index (CPI) increased by 0.4% in August 2005 *Poverty and extreme poverty fell to 38.5% and 13.6%, respectively *Inventors of products for the industrial sector were awarded a prize for innovation *The Argentine company Tulsa Oilfield Equipment SRL was awarded the National Prize Tenaris Siderca for Technological Development *Argentine IT company receives international award *Public utilities services – Edenor and the government reaches agreement for a new concession contract *Public utility services – French company Suez withdraws from Argentina *EFSA Scientific Report on the Assessment of the Geographical BSE-risk (GBR) Argentina *IDB approves US$ 33 million to Argentina to promote competitiveness in the tourism sector *Chilean experience on integrating low-income groups into the productive systems to benefit Argentina and other Latin American countries *Lord Mayor’s visit to Argentina, Chile and Brazil (3rd to 14 th September) *8 th annual Argentine wine tasting (20 th September) *An Evening of Argentine Fashion & Design in Belgravia (22 nd of September) *Hortifrut 2005 (1 st to 4 th of December 2005) ARGENTINE ECONOMIC OVERVIEW Extracts from the statement made by President Néstor Kirchner at the United Nations General Assembly (14 September 2005): - “….With great effort, Argentina is managing to return to the path of development and has achieved an important and sustained growth in its economy, while at the same time has succeeded in significantly reducing unemployment, poverty and destitution indexes. After coming out from the crisis, indicators show a sustained growth in the economy and a surplus situation in the fiscal and external accounts, together with the recovery in national reserves. Argentina has grown 8.8% in 2003, 9% in 2004 and over 9% during the first semester of 2005. The consolidated primary surplus is 5% of the GDP and the reserves have increased from nearly 10 billion dollars to over 25 billion. Exports this year will exceed 40 billion dollars, with an estimated growth of about 15%. The labour market shows a declining trend in unemployment, paired with a recovery in salary levels, a pointed improvement in the social situation and a clear decline in the poverty and destitution rates. Unemployment has dropped from 24% in 2003 to 12.1 over the first semester of 2005. Poverty rates have dropped, from 57.5 to 40.2, and destitution rates have come down from 27.5 in 2003 to 15% 2004 and continue to decline. The improvement in salary levels in the real general salary index has reached 16%. Since overcoming default, Argentina is consolidating as an opportunity for foreign investment”. - “….Regrettably, throughout this process of recovery, expansion and transformation, we did not have the support of the IMF, which in turn had indeed supported until only weeks before the convertibility regime. During its crisis, Argentina made net payments of about 13.5 billion dollars. As many developing countries, we continue to endure both this archaic conception of the indebtedness issue and an international trade system that is unfair to agricultural products, where subsidies and non-tariff barriers in developed countries continue to restrain our countries from their full growth based on their genuine resources. In this sense, we call for the ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization to be held at the end of this year in Hong Kong, China, to fulfill the unfulfilled promise of placing development in the center of the international trade. We follow attentively the international debate on the notion of sustainability of external debt. We believe that international finances are too important to be left in the hands of concerted interested that affect the stability of markets, discriminate against the small investor and spawn pro-cyclic policies. That is why, in various fora, we have put forward proposed modifications which increase the transparency of the international financial system, which free this Organizations from certain financial lobbies, which bring an enhanced stability to the capital flux and which favor small investors. There is neither ideology nor politics in this. We show concrete facts showing that these Financial Organizations did not perform the role they must perform. Looking ahead, our country has structured a debt-reduction strategy, designed to gain degrees of independence in the implementation of its plans for its development and the growth of its economy. In this regard, we want to reaffirm our decision that payment of external financial commitments must not be made with detriment to resources pledged to social areas such as education, health, housing and employment promotion. We shall be firm in maintaining this position when dealing with the international credit organization, and we reiterate our call for increased transparency, democracy and deep restructuring and revision of their policies in order to ensure their equity and efficiency.” For further details on this speech, please visit www.un.int/argentina/english/statements/miscelaneous/President2005.htm . FINANCIAL SECTOR Private debt restructuring - Telecom Argentina reached an agreement with its creditors: Telecom Argentina, which is controlled by Telecom Italia and the local group Werthein, paid US$ 1.3bn and left behind the biggest private default in the country. The company issued new securities and paid its creditors in advance, reducing its debt from 3.2bn dollars to 1.8bn dollars. The company was declared in default in April 2002, in the middle of the worst Argentine economic and financial crisis. Its General Manager said in a statement that they were very pleased by the result of the debt restructuring process and that it will establish a strong base to continue the expansion of their business in Argentina. Argentina cancelled its auction of the new Boden 2015 bonds: Argentina had to cancel a dollar bond issue after bids came in too high. The government was offering up to US$ 800 million in 10-year bonds, being the biggest debt deal since its 2002 default, but they had to cancel the auction after the average yields came in at 8.8 percent, or 0.8 percentage point more than what the government had expected. According to some private analysts, the decision to walk away from the debt offer was possible because Argentina´s economy is now doing well, expecting growth of nearly 8% in 2005. INVESTMENTS IN ARGENTINA Investment increased by 24.4% in the second quarter of 2005: According to official data, investment has increased by 24.4% in the second quarter of 2005, in comparison to the same period of 2004. This is considered by the government a very good result, taking into account that investment in the first quarter had grown by only 13.4%. Official sources believe that 2005 will show record levels of investment, which currently represents 21% of GDP. Internal report from the Ministry of Economy on investment and its crucial role in the Argentine economy recovery: An internal report from the Ministry of Economy says that “investment is performing a central role in the economic recovery: more than 50% of GDP growth during the period 2003/2004 can be explained by an increase in investment”. The report also emphasizes that investment increased by 86% between 2002 and 2004 . In addition, Minister Lavagna stressed in a recent meeting with businessmen that the Argentine economic growth was first stimulated by domestic consumption, being now driven by investment and exports. Investment in the meat industry: Swift Armour, the most important meat exporter of Argentina, was bought by the Brazilian company Friboi in about 200 million dollars. The group will now concentrate more than 50% of global trade in processed meat, with an annual turnover of US$ 1bn. This is the third acquisition of an Argentine company that takes place in this sector. Finexcor was acquired by Cargill and another company was bought by a British investor related with Tesco. Some analysts believe that all these acquisitions are due to an increase in European demands. The textile industry could receive investments for 3bn pesos in five years: The Argentine textile industry reached a historical record of production in the first semester of 2005. This good performance could mean, according to private sources, the arrival of new investments for the sector, totaling 3bn pesos in five years (US$ 1bn). The textile industry has already invested about 7.1bn pesos (US$ 2.4) since the currency devaluation. Some private analysts believe that Argentina is building a world-class textile industry able to compete with any country.