MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina’s economic activity picks up 7.8% in May and 4.1% in first five months

Construction and auto industry are rebounding strongly

Argentina's economic activity jumped 7.8% in May from a year earlier, according to the country’s questioned stats office, Indec. President Cristina Fernandez had anticipated the news earlier in the week in a televised speech.

Between January and May, Argentina's economy expanded 4.1% over the same period last year and in April economic activity grew a faster-than-expected: 7%.

The monthly EMAE economic activity index is a close proxy for GDP, which is reported quarterly. The EMAE figures are always revised after the GDP numbers are released to put them in line.

Argentina is widely accused of manipulating inflation data and, to a lesser extent, growth data. It faces potential sanctions by the IMF, which has issued a “declaration of censure” against Argentina over the quality of its statistics.

Argentina which is Latam’s third economy (after Brazil and Mexico) grew 1.9% in 2012 versus 8.9% in 2011, according to official data. This reflected weak global demand for its exports, a poor grains harvest, high inflation and the negative impact of currency and trade controls on investment.

More recent data indicates the economy is rebounding thanks to the construction and auto sectors and a better grains harvest. An agreement reached with Chevron to develop vast shale oil and gas deposits has also boosted the energy sector which is costing the country 9 to 11 billion dollars in imports.