Radical reforms in Argentina have been derailed by judges.

Live from the UK, this is the Marketplace Morning Report.

From the BBC World Service, I'm Felicity Hannah, good morning.

Argentina is South America's second biggest economy, but it's struggled for years with

rampant inflation and massive public debt.

The new Libertarian President Javier Malay thinks he has the answer, a radical

agenda of privatization, currency devaluation and austerity. Now the courts have intervened blocking controversial changes to

labour laws. The BBC's Nick Marsh has more. The courts have suspended some of the

government's planned reforms.

So that includes increasing job probation periods by several months,

making it easier to fire employees, reducing the compensation if you're fired,

cutting maternity leave as well.

And basically the judges said that Malay is going to need the approval of Parliament to get it done.

He's trying to get it through decree.

They called the laws unnecessary, punitive, repressive, so we'll have to see what happens now.

It could be the beginning of a long battle between have you Malay's plans and the country's

judiciary.

Nick Marsh there, let's do the numbers. Asian shares slipped overnight as investors reacted

to minutes from the US Fed suggesting interest rates could stay high for longer than many people had expected

and hopes for rate cuts in Europe have also fallen after inflation in France ticked up again

in December with prices rising 4.1% over the year, up from 3.9% in November.

Oil is up again, following concerns over disruption to Middle Eastern supply.

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