Argentina central bank holds benchmark rate at 27.25%; economy expands 4.7% in first two months

Wednesday, April 25th 2018 - 08:46 UTC

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Argentina’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate at 27.25% on Tuesday, reiterating in a statement that high-frequency indicators suggested core inflation would remain high in April, but below March levels. Read full article

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Enrique Massot
A nice, rosy picture that appears to show Argentina peacefully sailing towards a paradise of economic well being.

Alas, the optimistic statistics presented above conveniently omit major indicators showing a very different picture.

In the last week alone, Argentina's Central Bank had to resort to record sales of U.S. currency to rescue the peso from a catastrophic freefall. As many as US$ 5 billion--an amount never seen before--had to be sold to keep the greenback at just over $20 pesos.

Stubborn inflation, high fiscal deficit, massive borrowing, the dismantling of the domestic productive sector due to reduced consumption, massive imports and increased energy costs are making a serious dent on people's expectations and impacting president Macri's public image.

In the meantime, judges send (again) to jail two businessmen linked to the past government to conveniently push negative economic headlines out of the newspapers' front pages.
Apr 28th, 2018 - 03:26 pm - Link - Report abuse -1
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