IMF Approves Argentina Deal; Rio de Janeiro to Allow Tax Payments in Crypto

Bloomberg Línea — The IMF’s board on Friday approved the agreement reached in recent weeks ago by the IMF staff and the Argentine government to refinance the country’s $45 billion debt that corresponds to the deal signed in 2018.

The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will allow the use of cryptocurrency tokens for the payment of taxes from 2023, making it the first city in the country to do so.

On the region’s stock markets, Argentina’s Merval (MERVAL) index registered the best performance in Latin America after closing with a gain of 3.22%, powered by the rise of shares in the energy sector.

Following is a roundup of Friday’s news from Bloomberg Línea and Bloomberg reporters across Latin America.

Argentina:

• The IMF’s board on Friday approved the agreement reached in recent weeks ago by the IMF staff and the Argentine government to refinance the country’s $45 billion debt that corresponds to the deal signed in 2018.
• Founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, has been touring Latin America, where he made a round of contacts with local entrepreneurs and also political authorities, and which included Argentina, Uruguay and El Salvador.

VIEW +

Binance ‘No Worse than Banks’ in Fighting Money Laundering, Founder Says

In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg Línea, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao says he sees Brazil as one of the 10 most important markets for the crypto exchange

Brazil:

• The Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will allow the use of cryptocurrency tokens for the payment of taxes from 2023, making it the first city in the country to do so.
• Anitta has become the first Brazilian artist to hit the number-one spot on Spotify, with more than six million plays of her song ‘Envolver’.

Colombia:

• The government announced that it will begin to apply the third dose of vaccine against Covid-19 to minors, between 12 and 17 years of age, starting March 28.
• Colombia is making moves to allow investments in crypto assets to be converted into pesos to be held in a savings account at the bank of a customer’s choice.

Dominican Republic:

• Bilateral trade between the Dominican Republic and Guatemala now exceeds $200 million. The Guatemalan ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Javier Zepeda, told Bloomberg Línea that there is great potential for development to continue growing trade relations between the two nations.

Ecuador:

• The UK is investigating London-based insurers over bribery and corruption allegations in Ecuador. Fraud investigators are examining how companies including Marsh & McLennan Cos.’s Jardine Lloyd Thompson and Tysers Insurance Brokers secured business in South America.

Mexico:

• Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has ruled out paying compensation to companies affected by the electricity sector reform, and that he does not want key elements of the bill that seeks to increase state control of Mexico’s energy sector to change.

Panama:

• Panama is relaxing its sanitary measures imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19. As of March 28, the use of face masks will be mandatory only in enclosed spaces.