Argentina Seeks Funds From the IMF

The Finance Minister of Argentina is set to meet with members of the IMF to discuss financial aid to "avoid a crisis". Recently interest rates hit 40% and President Mauricio Macri says that aid from the IMF will help prevent a financial crisis in Argentina. This comes 12 years after Argentina "severed ties," with the IMF. Recently Argentina had talked to the IMF and they are working on an agreement together. Bloomberg recently reported that Argentina is asking for $30 billion but the Argentina government declined that comment. We will have to see how this turns out for both Argentina and the IMF.

155% minimum wage increase

President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela announced a 155% hike in the minimum wage on 4/30. Now US companies McDonald's and Wal-Mart are up-ing the argument for a minimum wage of $15 here in the US. 

The problem for a lot of people is that Venezuela has a good reason for this "gift"...their inflation is at 8900%, while the US (thankfully) is only at a 2.4%.

Another argument against the raises, is that McDonald's and Wal-Mart aren't welfare agencies, they are profit enterprises. So for the sake of their employees, they should just let this fight go..

Trade war ??

If these trade disagreements between the US and China continue, global growth might pay the price.

"The trade by itself doesn't really move the needle in terms of the macro. But what we're worried about is the trade spat drags on … consumers stop spending so much, firms stop investing, confidence goes down, and we go to a less good growth path," says Paul Gruenwald the chief economist at S&P Global Ratings.

Currently in Beijing, there are talks of  levying tariffs and investments and property protection issues and all these arguments that are essentially going to cause a huge reduction in global trade growth. 

Already there has been several cancelled shipments of US soybeans to China. 

The only thing we can say for sure is that it's complicated and right now its not looking too good.  

Zimbabwe Employees Strike

May 1st might be the celebration of International Workers' Day across the globe, however in Zimbabwe government employees have come together in protest. This has resulted in a series of strikes. On Friday teachers announced they would be striking on May 8th after the doors re-opened after the holiday. The Zimbabwe Teachers' Association, 44,000-member group, cited stagnant pay restrictive annual leave as reasons for their actions. 

"No amount of threats or illegal declarations from individuals in government will stop or intimidate teachers from exercising their constitutional and legal right to participate in industrial job action," Said a statement by the Zimbabwe Teachers Association Monday, addressed to the Education Ministry.  

In mid-April, 16,000 nurses were fired by the Zimbabwean government following a walkout that began on April 16th. The strike took place due to unpaid wages, the walkout took place one day after the month-long walkout by junior doctors ended. Vice President Constantino Chiwenga decribed the nurses' strike as "politically motivated". 

Zimbabwe's bloated civil service was an attempt to create jobs in the country. This means that the government struggles to meet its wage bill every month. Unemployment figures for Zimbabwe vary widely. 

"Politicians need to be more receptive to their demands," said Charles Laurie, director and head or politics at consultancy firm Verisk Maplecroft, "But striking workers need to be careful of settling for unrealistic promises from politicians that are ultimately unsustainable," he warns 


Crabtree, Justina. “Mass Strikes in Zimbabwe Trouble the New President Ahead of Keenly Watched Election.” CNBC, CNBC, 1 May 2018,
Aljazeera. “Zimbabwe: Nurses' Strike Takes Toll on Public Health Service.” News24, 19 Apr. 2018,