IMF chief specifically excluded Argentina from its coming Latinamerican tour because the government of President Cristina Fernandez still has to comply with what was agreed last July, basically normalizing the controversial INDEC stats office and open its books to auditing as happens with all other members of the G20.
Over a third of metropolitan Buenos Aires, 34.9%, live below the poverty line which is equivalent to 4.4 million people, more than double the official Argentine government estimate, according to a paper from the Argentine Catholic University, UCA, and the local Caritas chapter from the Catholic Church.
Argentina's economy grew 7.7% in September from a year earlier, the government said on Friday, beating market expectations and marking the 25th straight month of growth.
Argentine lawmakers announced Monday the so-called Congressional ‘inflation index” for October which they estimated at 1.49% and is well over double the official Indec index released last week, 0.6%.
Argentina's official inflation was reported at 0.6% in October, breaking with 18 straight months of consumer prices reported at either 0.7 or 0.8%, the government reported on Friday.
September inflation in Argentina climbed 0.8%, less than half the estimate from private consultants, according to the latest report from the discredited Statistics and Census Institute, Indec. In nine months accumulated inflation reached 7.3% and compared to a year ago, 9.9%.
Argentine opposition members of the Lower House released on Thursday the dissident inflation rate (‘Congress index’) for October. The index, which was set at 1.89%, is based on reports delivered by some private consultants, which differ substantially from that release by the INDEC Statistics Bureau Agency.
Nicolas Eyzaguirre, the IMF director for Latin America, stated that Argentina must apply “major measures” to improve its method of measuring the inflation.
Argentina's industrial output growth slowed in August to 5.2% year-on-year, while month-on-month economic activity contracted in July for the first time in 13 months, the government said on Friday.
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said on Thursday that she wants a “constructive dialogue” with Argentina, while at the same time warned that she is not willing to make any “concessions” in terms of the quality of official data the IMF receives from member countries.