Beef exports from Argentina suspended amid economic chaos
The Argentinean government suspended beef exports for two weeks on August 15 in an attempt to prevent domestic prices from rising too quickly.
This was one of a series of measures it took following presidential primary elections two days earlier. Current economy minister, Sergio Massa, who is a candidate for the presidency in decisive elections in October, came third in the primary.
In other emergency measures, the government immediately devalued the peso by 18% and increased interest rates to 118% per year. Inflation is running at 113.4%.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed a bailout package of $44 billion to prevent the national economy from collapsing. The government in Buenos Aires hopes to secure an instalment of $7.5 billion before the end of August but is not certain to receive it because it has not met all of the IMF’s conditions.
