Argentina accuses Danone, Bunge, P&G of output curbs amid pricing crackdown

BUENOS AIRES, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Argentina is investigatingconsumer firms including Danone, Procter & Gambleand Unilever, along with food producers likeBunge, over accusations that they have deliberately heldback production amid a government clampdown on rising prices.

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Argentina's YPF raises proven crude reserves

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Repsol's Argentine unit YPF (REP.MC)(YPFD.BA) announced an increase in its proven crude reserves of more than 300 million barrels of oil equivalent on Thursday, bucking a downward trend in the country.


YPF, Argentina's biggest energy company, said it had also increased its contingent crude resources by 500 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) as part of a company drive to boost its reserves in the South American nation.


Contingent resources are subject to a final decision being made on whether to extract them.


"We've renewed projects that were already under way and launched new ones that have given us very good results in terms of oil and natural gas finds," YPF Chief Executive Sebastian Eskenazi said in a statement.


The company said it had invested some $3.75 billion in its exploration and production division over the last three years.


No significant new reserves have been found in 15 years in Latin America's No. 3 economy. Proven oil reserves fell 9 percent between 2001 and 2008, while proven reserves of natural gas sank 39 percent.


Oil and natural gas exports have plunged and drilling of exploratory wells has slumped due to the economic crisis that peaked in 2001/2002 and government price controls since then.

New Corporate Office of BF Biosciences inaugurated by CM Punjab and Argentine Ambassador

Punjab Chief Minister Main Shahbaz Sharif and Argentine Ambassador to Pakistan Rodolfo Martin Saravia inaugurated the new corporate office of the bio-pharmaceutical company BF Bioscience, the first joint venture of Argentina and Pakistan, at Sunder Road, Raiwind, Lahore on Friday. It will create jobs for our employed youth.

BF Bioscience is a joint venture of Ferozsons Laboratories Pakistan Ltd and Bago Group of Argentine, is Pakistan’s first biotech pharmaceutical company and manufacturer of medicines to treat Hepatitis C and cancer patients. These drugs were previously being imported into Pakistan from other countries of the world and were around three times costly. The company has been established with a total investment of Rs 1 billion. It will also help reduce impot bill and precious foreign exchange of the nation which is badly needed at this time. In his remarks, Ambassador Martin-Saravia said that this award is given to meritorious foreigners for their service to the Argentine nation and to pay homage to the founding fathers, who began the Independence Revolution in the month of May of 1810. Referring to Osman s entrepreneurial skills, the ambassador said that Osman has provided an excellent platform for Argentine capital to blossom in a new business environment by creating the first joint venture between Argentina and Pakistan. With dedication and teamwork, he has led the new company from inception to creation, to production and to expansion, he said. He has demonstrated his commitment with his country and his trust in the potential of Pakistan and its people. Far from remaining in the realm of business, Osman has also been a patron of the arts by helping the Argentine embassy in organizing exhibitions of Argentine artists in Islamabad and Lahore. He has also provided meritorious service to his fellow countrymen - specially those most sick and in need - as a true humanitarian, channelling generous donations of medicines to the PIMS hospital, to several healthcare institutions around the country and to the displaced of the earthquake of 2005. In conclusion, Ambassador Martin Saravia expressed his pleasure that this year Argentina and Pakistan are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. With the wish that both countries would keep working together to further develop bilateral relations, he then presented the award to the recipient.amid well deserved applause. Expressing his gratitude to the Argentine government; his Argentine partner, Laboratorios Bago and especially to the ambassador for his unflinching support, not only to their project but to the cause of investment in Pakistan, Osman said the envoy is as much a brand ambassador for Pakistan as he is for his own country. He went on to say it was a much greater honour than he deserved for his modest contribution towards the economic relations between the two great countries and it had been a privilege to work with the ambassador and to have partnered with one of the finest, most reputable business families of the country. Speaking on this occasion he said that through this initiative, cheap treatment will be available to the patients of hepatitis, cancer and diabetes. Chief Minister said that a lab of international standard has been established in collaboration with Argentine and Feroze Sons Laboratories and it is a good example of partnership between the two countries. A joint venture between Feroze sons Laboratories Limited and the Bago Group of Argentina, BF Biosciences Limited manufactures biological drugs to treat Hepatitis C and Cancer. Fully USFDA complaint, the company’s manufacturing facility produces drugs that were previously only being imported into Pakistan. The company’s CEO, Osman Khalid Waheed said that the company is further reducing the cost of a six month treatment in Hepatitis C treatment to around Rs.100,000.

Argentina Offering Customers Free Accounts

July 20 attack in the city of La Plata spurred the central bank to introduce regulations that take effect this week to encourage Argentines to use the financial system instead of paying cash for real estate, cars and other big-ticket items. Banks must now offer free accounts and, from Nov. 1, charge no more than 5 pesos ($1.27) on transfers of up to 50,000 pesos.

“This requirement is going to help us protect our clients,” said Juan Carlos Nougues, president of Banco Supervielle SA. While he was meeting with a Bloomberg reporter in his downtown Buenos Aires office on Sept. 28, Nougues was informed that a branch in the capital’s suburbs had just been robbed. “We have to encourage people to be aware of all the tools available” in the financial system to reduce crime, he said.

Robberies of people leaving banks, known as “salideras,” rose to 4,998 in the first half of this year, 24 percent more than the 4,012 that took place in the whole of 2009, according to the office of Francisco De Narvaez, a congressman for the Peronismo Federal party that opposes President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s Victory Front alliance.

Armed robberies in the country of 42 million totaled 398,361 in 2008, according to the Justice Ministry, which doesn’t offer comparative data for earlier years.

‘Crime Map’

De Narvaez’s office maintains an online “Crime Map” that enables citizens to report robberies, suspected drug sales and rape.

The new measures may not be enough to convince Argentines to drop their mistrust of banks and overcome their reluctance to make personal finance information available to tax authorities, said Federico Rey-Marino, a bank analyst at Raymond James in Buenos Aires.

“Argentines are notoriously adverse to bank transactions,” Rey-Marino said in a Sept. 22 phone interview. “About 80 percent of all savings are in dollars in Argentina, some in local banks, some in foreign banks and a lot ‘under the mattress.’”

About 39 percent of adults in Argentina use banks, compared with 45 percent in Brazil and 90 percent in European countries, said Federico Juan, an analyst at Banca & Riesgo, a Buenos Aires research company. Bank lending in relation to the size of the economy is 14 percent in Argentina compared with more than 50 percent in neighboring Brazil, Juan said.

Bank Deposits

Bank deposits in Argentina are equivalent to 23 percent of gross domestic product compared with 40 percent in Brazil, Juan said.

Argentines have a “cultural” mistrust of banks thanks to a history of losing bank savings, said Emilio Lanza, general manager of the Banco de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

Aegis acquires Argentinian BPO

Aegis has forayed into Latin America by acquiring Argentina-based BPO company Actionline. The financial details were not disclosed. Actionline is Aegis’ 16th acquisition in the last five years.

Jointly held by Y&R Inversiones Publicitárias, S A and its business partner, Actionline is one of the largest BPOs in Argentina, with about 5,000 staffers, spread across seven centres in five cities.