The news is producing the same crash as a plane breaking the sound barrier. Seeing it, clearly with the lens of geopolitics. And placing everything within the framework of the tension that drives relations between the United States and China. Argentina, to which US President Joe Biden has tried to rebuild the bridges of collaboration in recent years, using the pillars of the loans granted to the country by the International Monetary Fund; it has now entered into an agreement with the People’s Bank of China for 1.7 billion dollars in yuan to repay the installment of his debt.
A bad slap in the face for the US, still stunned by yesterday’s decision of the rating agency Fitch to downgrade the rating from AAA to AA+. A kick at the belly step for Biden, already crippled on the road to reconfirmation for a new term in the White House.
In detail, the Argentine government has reached an agreement with the People’s Bank of China to guarantee 1.7 billion dollars in yuan through the currency swap. Money that he will need to meet the payment of the 2.7 billion dollar installment to the International Monetary Fund. The remaining balance, namely one billion dollars, will be covered by other funds lent by the Development Bank of Latin America, headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela. Beijing will have no immediate economic benefit from the operation. But the agreement actually hides the hope of the Chinese government to ensure that the renminbi, or the currency of the People’s Republic, can win a place in the sun on a global level.
The Biden article, double whammy. After Fitch, the US also humiliated by Argentina comes from Truth and Business.