USA sues Amazon and Argentina launches new dollar

In the Around the World framework, the team from Poder360 summarizes the main international facts from the last week (September 25, 2023 to September 29, 2023).

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North Korea will reopen borders to foreigners

On Tuesday (September 26, 2023) North Korea announced that it will reopen its borders to foreigners after isolation due to Covid-19.

Without giving many details, the government stated that it will allow foreigners to enter its territory after completing a 2-day quarantine period upon entering the country.

US sues Amazon for breaking antitrust law

Also on Tuesday (September 26), the Federal Trade Commission and 17 North American states sued Amazon for monopoly and use of anti-competitive strategies.

The regulatory body states that the big tech iprevents the growth of competitors and the emergence of new companies.

In addition, Amazon is also accused of coercing sellers into subscribing to Amazon Prime’s internal logistics subscription services.

Argentina launches “Vaca Muerta dollar” for hydrocarbon sector

On Wednesday (September 26), the Minister of Economy and candidate for President of Argentina, Sergio Massa, launched the “Vaca Muerta dollar”, aimed at hydrocarbon exporters from the Vaca Muerta basin.

With the measure, the minister intends to place 1.2 billion dollars in the Argentine foreign exchange market, guarantee the stability of jobs in the sector and stabilize the volatility of the dollar in the country.

During the period of validity of the new dollar, exporters will be able to settle 25% of oil and gas exports through the exchange rate.

The quote comes into force on October 25th, valid for 60 days.

Poverty affects more than 40% of Argentina’s population

Also on Wednesday (September 27), Indec (National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina) announced that the poverty level in the country reached 40.1% in the 1st half of this year, impacting almost 12 million Argentines.

The number represents an increase of almost 1 percentage point compared to the 2nd half of 2022, when it was 39.2%.

The level of indigence from January to June 2023 was 9.3%, an increase of 1.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year

The institute classifies as individuals at the poverty line those who do not have sufficient per capita family income to meet basic needs such as housing, food, health and education.

The indigent are those whose income is insufficient to meet the needs linked only to food.

US GDP slows to 2.1% in Q2 2023

On Thursday (September 28), the United States government announced that the country’s annualized GDP slowed to 2.1% in the 2nd quarter of 2023 compared to the 1st quarter, when it stood at 2.2%.

According to the report, the consumption and export sectors drove the fall, while the private investment and non-residential sectors saw the biggest increase.