Nicolás Saldías, senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit: “The failure of the government’s tender to give a private firm a 30-year concession to manage, update and expand the Paraná River, or the hidrovía, demonstrates that the Milei administration’s ambitious privatization programme will not be a straightforward affair. The hidrovía is a key logistics artery for Argentina, as it allows grain exports to go directly to global markets. The dredging of the waterway in the 1990s allowed for larger ships to enter, boosting Argentina’s competitiveness and helped create the ‘decada ganada’ (won decade). It also allowed for the opening up of Paraguay’s economy to massive agricultural investments starting in the 2000s. After years of poor governance and a lack of investment, Argentina’s agro-exporters have lost competitiveness to Brazil. The Milei administration opened up a tender for private firms to take over the hidrovía, which included dredging the waterway to 39 feet, from 36 feet currently—local producers want the dredging to be even deeper. The privatization is part of…”