Argentina’s Macri Rolls Out More Measures as Markets Recover

(Bloomberg) -- President Mauricio Macri finally got a moment of reprieve Thursday after he rolled out a second wave of economic measures while markets recovered a bit following steep losses.

Macri froze payments on inflation-linked home mortgages until December, eliminated a VAT tax on essential food products and prepared to freeze gas prices for 90 days. That follows a slew of other measures he rolled out Wednesday. The peso gained 5.5% Thursday after plunging earlier in the week, while bonds rebounded, too.

The emergency measures came after opposition candidate Alberto Fernandez defeated Macri by a landslide in Sunday’s primary vote, triggering a market sell-off on fears of a return to populism. Roberto Lavagna, the third-place candidate trailing far behind Macri and Fernandez, announced Thursday he was temporarily suspending his campaign to focus on resolving the crisis.

To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Gillespie in Buenos Aires at pgillespie29@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Robert Jameson

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.