Where the math is defensible.
Long-form research on live enterprise decisions. Publication is selective. Every number traces to a named source. No takes without evidence.
Argentina Capital Controls Lifting and the FX Regime Through 2026
On April 11, 2025 the IMF Executive Board approved a USD 20 billion Extended Fund Facility for Argentina, and within seventy two hours the Caputo Bausili team lifted the cepo for individuals and floated the peso inside an ARS 1,000 to 1,400 crawling band. Reserves climbed from USD 26 billion in February 2025 to USD 39 billion by April 2025, the parallel dollar gap collapsed from 60 percent to under 10 percent, and the Argentina 2030 USD bond compressed from 25 percent yields to 12 percent. The stabilization is the most consequential FX regime shift in emerging markets since Sri Lanka 2023.
The April 2025 IMF EFF and the simultaneous partial dismantling of the cepo reset Argentina's external anchor for the first time since the 2019 reimposition. The crawling band ARS 1,000 to 1,400 vs USD operates with explicit BCRA intervention rules at the floor and ceiling, the parallel dollar gap has compressed from 60 percent to under 1...
Argentina under Milei: from currency competition to where dollarization actually lands
By April 2026, the Milei program has delivered fiscal surplus and disinflation, but the path from currency competition to formal dollarization remains capital constrained, politically contested, and contingent on the IMF program holding through the midterms.
President Milei begins his third year with the strongest fiscal anchor Argentina has produced in two decades, a unified peso, and CCL/MEP spreads under 4 percent. Yet the dollarization promise that defined his 2023 campaign now sits inside a more pragmatic frame: currency competition, BCRA balance sheet repair, and a $20 billion IMF progr...
Argentina IMF Year Two: Reserve Build, Cepo Sequencing, and the 2026 Stabilization Bet
The April 11, 2025 USD 20 billion Extended Fund Facility reset Argentina's external anchor. Monthly inflation is near 2 percent, the primary surplus holds, and Vaca Muerta plus BOPREAL have rebuilt reserves, while LIBRA and the October 2025 midterms test durability.
On April 11, 2025 the IMF Board approved a 48 month, USD 20 billion Extended Fund Facility for Argentina, replacing the failed 2022 Stand By and front-loading USD 12 billion. On April 14, 2025 the Caputo Bausili team partially liberalized the cepo, floating the peso inside an ARS 1,000 to 1,400 per dollar band and retaining controls only ...
Argentina Year Two: Milei's Fiscal Anchor and the Disinflation Bet
Fifteen months in, the Milei administration has delivered a primary surplus, crushed monthly inflation from 25.5 percent to roughly 2.5 percent, and pulled in a fresh IMF Extended Fund Facility. The remaining bet is sequencing: lift the cepo without losing the peso, and turn Vaca Muerta plus the lithium triangle into a reserve story that survives the 2027 cycle.
Javier Milei took office on December 10, 2023, with a primary fiscal deficit of roughly 3 percent of GDP, monthly headline inflation of 25.5 percent in December 2023, and net BCRA reserves near minus 11 billion dollars. Fifteen months later the picture has inverted. The 2024 primary surplus closed at 1.8 percent of GDP, the first full-yea...
Argentina at Year Two: The Milei Stabilization After the IMF Pivot and the 2025 Midterm
Twenty-eight months in, the Milei program has produced a primary surplus, single-digit monthly inflation, a lifted FX cepo with reserves near 23 billion dollars, and an enlarged La Libertad Avanza caucus after the October 2025 midterm. The next leg turns on dollar-bond compression, Vaca Muerta export ramp, and the political bandwidth to shift the cepo lift from controlled float into full convertibility before 2027.
Javier Milei was inaugurated December 10, 2023 with monthly headline inflation at 25.5 percent, a primary fiscal deficit near 3.0 percent of GDP, and BCRA net reserves close to negative 11 billion dollars. By April 2026 the picture has inverted across every dimension that matters to a sovereign creditor or peso liability holder. The 2024 ...
Argentina, YPF, and the Burford Judgment: Vaca Muerta Through 2026
A 16.1 billion dollar New York judgment hangs over Argentina's signature reform asset. The Burford Capital litigation, the Milei refusal to settle, and the Vaca Muerta export ramp now interact through one balance sheet. The question is whether the legal overhang will impair the only credible source of incremental hard currency before the 2027 cycle.
On September 8, 2023, Judge Loretta A. Preska of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a 16.1 billion dollar judgment against the Argentine Republic in favor of Petersen Energia Inversora and Eton Park Capital, the residual claimants on the 2012 expropriation of Repsol's 51 percent stake in YPF S.A....
The Lithium Triangle in 2026: Chile's Codelco Pivot, Argentina's Brine Build, Bolivia's Stalled DLE
Chile converted Atacama into a 50/50 Codelco-SQM JV, Argentina's Olaroz, Hombre Muerto, and Rincon expansions target 130,000 tonnes LCE in 2026, and Bolivia's CATL and Uranium One DLE pilots remain stalled despite 23 million tonnes of resource.
The lithium triangle holds roughly 56 percent of identified global lithium resources (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2025). Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia together accounted for about 28 percent of 2024 mine production of 240,000 tonnes lithium content, against Australia at 37 percent and China at 17 percent. Chile's April 2023 National ...
EU Mercosur 2026: The Political Endgame After Montevideo
The December 2024 political agreement broke a 25 year logjam. The 2026 ratification fight will be won or lost on bifurcation, beef quotas, and whether Paris can convince Rome and Warsaw to vote down a deal that Berlin, Madrid, and Brasilia all want.
The EU Mercosur agreement, initialled at the Montevideo summit on 6 December 2024, reopened a dossier first signed in 1999 and frozen after the 2019 political accord collapsed. The 2026 ratification path now runs through a deliberate legal bifurcation: the Trade Pillar travels under Article 207 TFEU as an EU only competence, requiring qua...
Latin America Soybean Cycle 2026: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
South American supply, Chinese demand, and ENSO neutrality define the 2026 to 2027 oilseed map. Ceres assesses three trade scenarios.
The 2025 to 2026 Latin American soybean cycle marks a structural reset for the global oilseed complex. Brazil is on track for a record harvest above 175 million tonnes, Argentina is rebuilding stocks after the 2023 to 2024 drought, and the Paraguay and Uruguay cluster is consolidating its role as a swing supplier to China and the European...