Argentine President Nestor Kirchner replaced the head of the central bank on Friday, removing one of the government's most respected figures on Wall Street just as the country seeks to work out the final details of a US$100-billion debt restructuring.
In a surprise move that rattled Argentine financial markets, the government said that Alfonso Prat-Gay, a former head of emerging market research at JP Morgan Chase & Co, would be succeeded by the deputy foreign minister, Martin Redrado, when Prat-Gay's term expires on Wednesday.
Government officials declined to say why Kirchner made the changes. Some analysts speculated that the shake-up was intended to give the president more room to intervene in monetary policy. Fears of such increased political power helped push Argentine bonds lower in New York on Friday and sent the peso tumbling more than 1 percent at its nadir in Buenos Aires before it recovered and settled flat.
Prat-Gay, 38, was seen by many as the most market-friendly face in a government that has otherwise unnerved investors by taking a tough stance in talks with private bondholders and lenders like the International Monetary Fund. Prat-Gay was one of a small group of officials who met last month in Buenos Aires with the IMF's new managing director, Rodrigo de Rato, pressing the fund to delay US$1.1 billion in loan payments while Argentina works out its debt restructuring.
The IMF granted the delay on Friday, saying in a statement that it would give Argentina another year to make the payments. However, Argentina still has to repay the IMF an additional US$1.46 billion in obligations coming due in the next four months, the fund said.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
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