Argentina's Fernandez freezes rents and mortgages, suspends evictions through September

Argentine President Alberto Fernández signed an executive order granting relief to the nation's tenants and borrowers amid the ongoing Coronavirus crisis.

The order freezes residential and commercial rents, as well as mortgage and secured loan payments, through September 30.

Tenants and borrowers are also protected from eviction for non-payment until October, when any rents owed from the moratorium may be repaid in three installments.

The relief package is part of a series of emergency measures stemming from the Covid-19 global pandemic, which in Argentina has reached 820 known cases since March 1st and claimed 20 lives.

The Covid crisis prompted Fernández to enact a nationwide shelter-in-place order for non-essential staff on March 20, which according to authorities has so far had an estimated 94% compliance rate.

Retail collapse

High compliance has resulted, in the case of Buenos Aires, in a 72% reduction in automobile traffic and 83% in public transport ridership - as well as 50% less air pollution and 89% less crime.

But excluding supermarkets and pharmacies, retail sales have collapsed by at least 70% according to Small and Medium Business Assembly head Manuel Gabás - a sharp blow, after a two-year recession in which nearly 25,000 employers closed shop.

Following a Central Bank rate cut from 63% when Fernández took office in December to 38%, economic relief enacted since March 17 includes a $5.5 billion small business credit line and a $150 monthly subsidy for the nation's 5 million low-income workers.

The OECD estimated that even with relief measures, GDP may fall by 2% for every month that shelter-in-place orders remain in effect; Argentina's GDP already fell 2.2% last year, and a total of 6.6% since early 2018.

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"Taking care of yourself is taking care of us all," a Health Ministry billboard along Buenos Aires' normally hectic 9th of July Avenue reminds Argentines to take precautions during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The current crisis is hitting Argentina particularly hard, following two years of a "Macrisis" and six years of sputtering growth.

"In a crisis such as this," President Alberto Fernández explained, "you can't leave people unprotected."