MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina's economy further contracts in 2Q; government insists recovery is round the corner
Argentina’s recession deepened in the second quarter as President Mauricio Macri’s efforts to implement free-market reform exacerbated an already flagging economy. GDP fell 3.4% from the same period a year earlier, the largest year-on-year contraction in almost two years, the refurbished statistics agency said in a report published on Thursday. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesCue Enrique who will no doubt tell us how he is going to make the economy good again after the disasterous years of Kirchners rule
Sep 23rd, 2016 - 05:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0government insists recovery is round the corner,
Sep 23rd, 2016 - 07:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0That's what they all say,
But what corner and which way, left or right.??
1
Sep 23rd, 2016 - 11:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Enrique Massot insists that Evita K (CFK) was on the right path.
He further contends that Macri is making grave errors and selling out the poor, by firing them from their jobs, in order to lower wages and create more profits for the “elite” rich business owners.
Contradicting himself, he asserts that Macri is lowering trade barriers and driving driving Argentine business owners out of business, by offering cheaper, better goods to the people.
Hey boys:
Sep 24th, 2016 - 04:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0I don't need to say anything. The article above speaks for itself.
All golfcronie and Kanye found to say is babbling...but Briton introduced some common sense.
Gay Prat:
Sep 24th, 2016 - 03:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Ever the sunshine pumper.
The rg economy is weak and sickly.
Cretina bled it to the point of death.
Much of rg's economy is just antiquated rubble.
Even after it implodes what's left isn't even suitable for the foundation of a modern, dynamic one.
Poor rg will have to greatly lower its expectations and cycle through multiple contractions before the bottom is ultimately reached.
Big surprise: there is declining market demand for overpriced and substandard Argentine products and services.
Sep 25th, 2016 - 03:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0Decades of outrageous conduct by Argentine governments, crumbling infrastructure, a workforce demonstrably more inclined to violent demonstrations than to productivity, a high crime rate, a much-deserved and well-recognised reputation for corruption and a hostile domestic framework for businesses have helped convince foreign investors to stay away in droves.
Who could have possibly predicted any of that?
#5 chronic #6 Marti
Sep 25th, 2016 - 08:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0It amazes me the industriousness of the above commentators to justify the scorched-earth politics of president Macri in Argentina in the last nine months.
Do they hate Argentina so much they are celebrating its accelerated downhill economic deterioration and wish the country to endure Macri for a long time?
Now, not everybody is suffering right now. Some are making nice piles of money with the new state of affairs. They aren't many, but they are making a lot. Perhaps Marti, who is doing business in Argentina, count himself among the few lucky ones. I hope that's the case and at least is a good reason to earnestly sing the praises of Macri and his free-market policies as soon as bad news arrive.
@7
Sep 25th, 2016 - 11:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0Really? Your apparent employers destroyed the economy, and now this guy can't fix it? I hope Macri fails, you know that, but when the FpV returns, that will be the best outcome from my point of view. You will be powerless to threaten your neighbors, and from my point of, this is a necessary point of the eventual reconquest of what you stole. I look forward to your eventual disappointment. ;)
http://i1290.photobucket.com/albums/b521/imoyaro/choppersrepublic_zps16705a1f.jpg
@7 Reekie, those who produce something of value, be it goods or services, and can do so in a competitive manner in a market where there is demand, and who will adapt to changing market conditions, will likely do well so long as they are not constrained by government interference, as has historically been the case in Argentina.
Sep 25th, 2016 - 02:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But much of Argentina has little to offer to world markets at prices they are willing to pay, and the era of the sheltered workshop is about to end. If the Argentine economy is to be successful its industries must adapt and learn to be competitive.
That economy must also recognise that so long as it is largely dependent upon depressed regional markets and particularly that of Brazil, it will be adversely affected. The ability of most Argentine industries to adapt to such changing conditions is historically lethargic. Other nations, with entrepreneurial agility and demonstrated flexibility, which are comparatively unburdened by onerous government controls and taxation, appreciate the self-inflicted economic failures that Argentina visits upon itself. When market demand returns, Argentina will see that it missed the bus.
Reeeeeeeeeeeeeekie, why should rg be rewarded with success when it has made none of the sacrifices necessary to produce it?
Sep 25th, 2016 - 02:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Macro is a good chap who will see the Argentine people are looked after.
Sep 25th, 2016 - 05:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0He needs time to turn around the Kirchners disastrous time in Office.
Kicillof's economics were those of a basketcase lunatic. Talking to some people is like speaking to a brick wall.
Sep 25th, 2016 - 05:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Kirchner's time in office, 8 years. Followed by Macri, 9 months.
Therefore, the current state of the economy is all Macri's fault. An example of brilliant thinking.
#12 bushpilot
Sep 25th, 2016 - 06:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Let's see if we understand this.
Macri has been president for nine months and has enjoyed an extended honeymoon. The Congress, where Macri is in minority, has voted all bills presented by the executive. Union leaders have waited, in spite of pressure from their base, to see changes.
Nobody in Argentina was so naive as to expect instant bonanza.
Just by keeping the same levels of December 2015 would have kept people reasonably happy.
But the population wasn't prepared for the accelerated deterioration of the economy that is taking place.
The government's response?
PR exercises to keep people distracted while key players complete the appropriation of entire sectors of the economy for private enjoyment.
All of this seems to be good news to the islanders.
As imoyaro says at #8, “you will be powerless to threaten your neighbors.”
Indeed. Macri works for people like you instead of advancing the interests of his own people.
Enjoy while you can.
EM
Sep 25th, 2016 - 07:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“As imoyaro says at #8, “you will be powerless to threaten your neighbors”
No change, there.
“The government's response?
PR exercises to keep people distracted while key players complete the appropriation of entire sectors of the economy for private enjoyment.”
You must be talking of Evita K's government.
Which government official was recently caught trying to hide $9m USD in a convent in the middle of the night? Not one of Macri's.
How did Evita K amass a fortune of millions of USD? Not through her law practice.
“Distractions”?
Paying off debts, removing the Dollar Clamp, lowering the agricultural taxes and export taxes that stagnated industry, removing do-nothing so-called workers in the government sector, identifying 3,000 surplus employees at Aerolineas, negotiating to attract investment in Argentina, re-establishing dialog with the First World? Those distractions?
”
Reeeeeeeeeekie:
Sep 25th, 2016 - 07:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Rg has been going backwards for the entire Perro/Cretin epoch.
Why should Macaroni be able to reverse these dynamics in 9 months or even 9 years?
After all - he's got the same inferior resources and the same gargantuan problems.
Huh, Reeeeeeeeekie?
Marti,
Sep 25th, 2016 - 11:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you're still around, I want to ask. Is the recession in Argentina accelerating, or decelerating?
Likely it is still deepening. But is that deepening recession coming from Macri's redirection of the economy or just at a steeper part of the tailspin that the previous administration initiated?
#16 bushpilot
Sep 26th, 2016 - 01:49 am - Link - Report abuse 0While Marti provides his dutiful answer to you I'll offer my two cents.
Fact: Recession in Argentina is indeed deepening.
“GDP plunges 3.4% in second quarter,” a Buenos Aires Herald article is headlined. In that article, the newspaper also reports how connstruction--and even agricultural activity, the one benefitted by elimination of export taxes--have also contracted.
“...it was the third consecutive period of decline...casting further gloom over the government’s economic policy.”
http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/221963/gdp-plunges-34-in-second-quarter
The trick of blaming the previous government is of course widely used by governments coming with hidden agendas. In this case the lie is spread to keep the public opinion asleep while a deep concentration of the country's wealth is achieved.
Of course, all of this is good news for people who wish to see an emasculated and powerless Argentina, mired in internal conflict. Welcome to Macri's kindom!
Didn't think you had an answer, Reeeeeeeeekie.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 02:01 am - Link - Report abuse 0EM
Sep 26th, 2016 - 03:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0“
Of course, all of this is good news for people who wish to see an emasculated and powerless Argentina, mired in internal conflict”
Evita K's vision of Argentina is an emasculated and powerless public, reliant on the benevolence of the Peronists for the scraps from Cristina's table.
When I was working in Argentina on a large construction site I found most of the “ peons ” were in fact Chilean who were prepared to work for a living. At that time it was extremely difficult to recruit Argentinians as they were not 1) prepared to do manual work or 2) work away from home comforts.3) considered themselves far to superior to do menial tasks. Incidently most youngsters went to “ so called Universities ” ( equivalent to evening schools elsewhere ) to get a degree, so all young Argies can call themselves Dr, Professor Enginiero etc.Load of bollocks.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 10:02 am - Link - Report abuse 0Has anyone watched the news out of Europe or North America, or Asia for that matter, lately?
Sep 26th, 2016 - 11:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0The non-Argentines in these forums live in an alternate universe, where the air is of roses and the rivers flow of honey back home... (instead of the reality that is the disaster in Europe with the economy, the refugees, the wall in Calais, the breakdown of the UK politics now run by rank amateurs, and that may be an insult to rank amateurs, the social and economic mess that is France and Italy, the slowdown in Scandinavia and the fragmentation of immigrants, the social tensions in Germany and the fall of the German industrial machine that kept the EU running, the still dead economies in Greece and Spain, Russia now completely out of control, the Middle East still Burning, India slowly distabilising, the Korean peninsula on the verge, Japan reasserting its militaristic pretensions, China trying to take the military road to superpowerdom with their economy down, United States in a huge racial divide, breakdown of trust with law enforcement, and the income disparity now through the roof with shantytowns now commonplace in California, Texas, Michigan, and other places).... and I could go on and on.
In other words, WWIII is imminent in the Northern Hemisphere.
So is this how the BBC will inform us all,
Sep 26th, 2016 - 01:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Nuclear Attack UK Live Broadcast (May 2016 Original version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xAoRW6mAU
We don't know who will win WWIII
But we will be fighting WW4 with sticks and stones.
@21 “....In other words, WWIII is imminent...”
Sep 26th, 2016 - 01:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I think somebody forgot to mention the flesh-eating spiders, the stuffy air at the Fairfield Inn in Calgary, the huge rocks falling from the sky, and Argentina's fast-approaching new default .
@23
Sep 26th, 2016 - 02:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If there is a default in Argentina, then we can blame you as a Macri supporter.
But a default sounds nice compared to the nuclear wasteland that will be Eurasia and North America, probably Australia too since they tend to make the wrong choice of following their Overlords.
As usual at the end of the next world war Argentina will sit high and pretty compared to everyone else, and all the toxic fumes, what little makes it to the Southern Hemisphere, will be absorbed into the Chilean foothills.
And the hand of god, will divert all the windy danger around Argentina to other countries.lol
Sep 26th, 2016 - 07:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@24 Infinite amusement, and the tendency of the Argentines to lie even about the wind is once again on display.
Sep 26th, 2016 - 08:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0”.....all the toxic fumes, what little makes it to the Southern Hemisphere, will be absorbed into the Chilean foothills...
Actually, as we who actually live here know, the prevailing winds are from the west, and from about the latitude of Chos Malal southward, carry everything toxic from Chile right into Argentina. That is why when a Chilean volcano erupts, as they do with alarming regularity, the ash grounds Argie aircraft within hours and causes enormous economic harm.
Argentina doesn't need even the smallest nuclear event to return to the Stone Age -- a handful of chileno volcanoes will do the trick. Here in Santa Cruz province we are still suffering from the effects of the 1991 Hudson volcano eruptions in southern Chile (XI Region). The ash from those eruptions took the usual course of the winds and covered the sheep-grazing lands of Sta Cruz province, nearly destroying that industry and creating millions of dollars in damage. Toxic gas from other Chilean volcanoes and their ashfall since that time have blown eastward into Argentina and resulted in many millions more in damages, particularly around Bariloche and Villa La Angostura, and in some cases totally closing flight operations even around misnamed Buenos Aires.
You don't have to be a whole lot smarter than Kepi Troll to know which way the wind blows.
------
A splendid NASA photo of chileno volcano ash plume covering Argentina
http://www.argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/latest-news/newsfromargentina/volcanic-eruption-wounds-patagonia/
Another day, another volcano and yes, Argentina is on the receiving downwind side, where air traffic is halted and livestock production is severely harmed
http://www.argentinaindependent.com/currentaffairs/latest-news/newsfromargentina/volcanic-eruption-wounds-patagonia/
The usual Peronist dreams that Argentina is not affected by the real world.
The tribulations of speaking to a really omplete and utter moron. Comparing volcanic rock (ash) to radiation as if they have the same properties and behave the exact same way. Of course not even counting the fact that a VOLCANO IN CHILE, as the idea itself suggest, means that any ejectii from VOLCANOS IN CHILE, Chile being about as wide as a my girl cousin's feet are long, would mean that heavier rock material, even heavy ash-vapor (which is full of water) would fall pretty quickly back down into a real country (any country whose width is longer than my feet are long).
Sep 27th, 2016 - 12:11 am - Link - Report abuse 0Radiation produced by the coming war would not be produced anywhere near Chile, it would all be produced in the Northern Hemisphere and it has been shown that the Earth is far more resilient than expected to such events: in an impact event (asteroid, comet), the hemisphere affected absorbs 92% of the energy and debris, because only a fraction of the material makes it beyond the stratosphere, out of the westerly winds of each hemisphere and the trade winds of the tropics, and the equatorial dead zone, all of which make it hard for atmosphere to mix between the two hemispheres.
Any radiation material that makes it to the southern hemisphere from the northern means it is extremely high in the atmosphere and will stay there for a while, quite a bit of it decaying while up there. If by any chance any material is down near the surface, because Chile and Argentina are in the westerlies, any such radiation would easily be absorbed by the plant material, snow back, and mountain range formations on the Chilean side. Any radiation material that has the altitude of making it passed this point, generally has the momentum to make it to the Argentine eastern regions, or even the atlantic itself...
This makes the “rainshadow” of the Andes (e.g. Mendoza), one of the safests locales on Earth to watch WWIII on TV.
I do know the wind does not blow in the way of favoring you having a brain.
@27 “...Radiation produced by the coming war...”
Sep 27th, 2016 - 07:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Ha ha ha.
For the past 60 years, which is as long as I can remember, the Argentine nationalists have been creaming their jeans over the prospect that the productive and civilised nations will magically cease to exist, and Argentina will assume its rightful place atop the bosta pile that is Letrine America.
This perennial myth of the dreamy ascension of Argentina somehow doesn't correspond to the obvious realities of the country's descent from the top economy in the region, to the second economy in the region, to the third economy in the region..... to the point now where little chilito has higher per-capita income and better universities than Argentistan.
And even Hand-Wringing Reekie has noticed that the country is continuing to auger in, with new economic failures, burning the furniture to stay warm, and wrapping themselves in the security blankets of “vivir con lo nuestro” as the rest of the world reads articles such as “Argentina's economy further contracts in 2Q.....”
But it's easy to see where increasing failure is so omnipresent, that Argentines resort to their quaint mythology.
@ 27 CapiTrollism_is_back!!
Sep 28th, 2016 - 05:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Don’t be silly Toby, if any of that were true Dinosaurs would still be roaming S. America, instead of being extinct there like everywhere else.
You’re talking about Isotopes with a half-life in excess of 10,000 years being the fastest decaying ones produced.
Not to mention the composition of atmospheric gasses being broadly the same in both hemispheres, if what you say were true, 90% of the CO2 would be in the northern hemisphere atmosphere.
In the event, of an Extinction Level Event, You might have a few weeks more if you were really, really lucky.
#28 Marti
Sep 28th, 2016 - 06:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“And even Hand-Wringing Reekie has noticed that the country is continuing to auger in, with new economic failures...”
Marti: nine months ago, I clearly spelled out what president Mauricio Macri was going to do with Argentina's economy. So don't come now saying that I “have noticed.”
Especially, don't attempt silly gymnastics to still try to blame the CFK government for what's happening as you do:
“...wrapping themselves in the security blankets of 'vivir con lo nuestro'”
You know, as everybody who is at least a bit informed knows, that today's policies are totally the opposite of the “live based on our own resources” principle. Macri has no intention to support the small and medium-size enterprises or the middle class--his vision is based on foreign investment--something is not happening in any meaningful way.
Oh, and your use of derogatory terms when naming Latin America does not show you in a very good light--instead it portrays you as a poor, complexed, hateful individual.
Shame on you.
Nice try.
@30 “Macri has no intention to support the small and medium-size enterprises ....”
Sep 28th, 2016 - 11:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It's not up to the Macri government, other than to get out of their way. It's up to those enterprises to demonstrate agility and adaptability, and to competitively produce goods and services of value in a lower-demand market environment which is comparatively free of protectionism. Industria Argentina has for so long been producing antiquated crap that it has no idea of the fundamental concepts of quality and competitiveness, and this is part of the reason that the economy has been failing for many years.
Léalo y llore:
“Las razones que determinaron esa caída [de competitividad mundial] fueron, entre otras, 'el continuo deterioro de las condiciones macroeconómicas del país', una 'valoración muy negativa de su estructura institucional' y el ineficiente funcionamiento ' de los mercados comercial, laboral y financiero, según reza el informe publicado ayer con una nueva edición del ranking anual.
”El diagnóstico también menciona que “el país parece no aprovechar el potencial de competitividad importante que le proporciona su gran mercado interno”, ni tampoco saca rédito de “su alto número de matrícula universitaria que proporciona a las empresas locales una mano de obra calificada”.
The article charitably stopped short of mentioning the trends to the abysmal quality of the goods and services and the long history of attempts by Peronist governments to either nationalise, expropriate, or steal otherwise productive industries.
Reekie, perhaps you can find someone in your neighbourhood to explain to you the concept of competitiveness.
https://www.aei.org/publication/where-obamas-asia-rebalance-went-wrong/
Sep 29th, 2016 - 12:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0https://www.aei.org/publication/where-obamas-asia-rebalance-went-wrong/
@29
Sep 29th, 2016 - 04:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0Read on the Great-American interchange, and weep and then apologize.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Interchange
In Latin America, the recovery from ANY crisis is always just around the corner!
Sep 29th, 2016 - 01:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In Latin America, the recovery from ANY crisis is just a momentary illusion, and presages a far greater crisis.
Sep 29th, 2016 - 02:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@33 CapiTrollism_is_back!!
Sep 29th, 2016 - 04:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_extinction_event
Like I said, happened everywhere, S. America not immune.
The point which Kepi Troll unsurprisingly seems to be missing is that Argentina is very much affected, and significantly so, by events and conditions outside its imaginary hermetically sealed fortress walls. You can't expect them to conceive of anything to the contrary. They have become so comfortably enamoured of their myths that it's like trying to explain to them the realities of Newtonian physics, heliocentrism, and the Falkland Islands. And the simple fact of the matter is that as Argentina is sinking economically it is also growing..... growing increasingly dependent upon the outside world -- the unthinkable something that argie nationalists are simply unprepared to imagine, let alone rationally deal with.
Sep 29th, 2016 - 08:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#31 Marti
Sep 30th, 2016 - 04:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0Wow. Finally we can understand the root causes of Argentina's ups and downs.
What we manufacture is of bad quality.
Not even Macri has figured this out.
Quickly, Marti for advisor-in-chief for the presidency!
38
Sep 30th, 2016 - 07:12 am - Link - Report abuse 0EM
Macri appears to know all too well what the problems are with the Argentine economy.
That's why he is dismantling the Evita K apparatus of protectionism, export taxes, currency controls and bloated rolls of public employees, etc.
You have no argument and you know it. That's why you resort to ridicule.
“What we manufacture ”?
Please! You have probably lived up in Canada longer than in Argentina.
@38 “What we manufacture is of bad quality. Not even Macri has figured this out”
Sep 30th, 2016 - 02:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0-- Actually, it appears that the Macri government HAS figured this out, or at least what has long been patently obvious is being taken more seriously.
The new government is preparing to release the “Plan Productivo Nacional ” which acknowledges in prettier words that Industria Argentina has long been producing overpriced junk goods and services and it's time to teach these Argentines the meaning of competitiveness, or at least remind them that the lack of it is the root of their failure and misery. The report singles out industrial sectors that are exceedingly poor in competitiveness, including the protected textile and electronics industries.
We should not take this as a sign that the new government is truly sincere, however. The new study cites the argie auto industry as “moderately competitive” even though it cannot compete in its own region with auto production coming from Asia, due in large part to excessively high labour compensation and significant inefficiencies in production, along with the need for the foreign auto industry to keep a large supervisory presence in the country in order to maintain a minimally acceptable level of product quality.
The new report cites the manufacturing success of Australia and contrasts Argentine industrial shortcomings with the comparative Ozzian success.
@ 37 Marti Llazo
Sep 30th, 2016 - 04:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I like to keep pointing out the glaringly obvious flaws in what he is saying, makes me feel superior.
@ 38 Enrique Massot
The simple facts are that until you become competitive and can balance the countries books, life is always going to be shit.
If your industries were competitive, they wouldn’t need protecting.
You can fix that, or you can hope for another boom in the prices of commodities like soy beans.
Make it all go away again, for a few years.
Look up British Leyland, yet now Britain is the second/third biggest car builder in Europe.
Article in Argie media: “The high cost of the lack of competitiveness”
Sep 30th, 2016 - 05:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Recognised in 2015 and earlier - no recent phenomenon, but rather part of the long existing trend and the nature of Argentine culture:
Podés leer la nota en cristiano:
“El alto costo de la falta de competitividad”
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1835355-el-alto-costo-de-la-falta-de-competitividad
----
Nota: In spite of the devaluation, Argentine industry is still lacking in competitiveness. Argentina in 25th place out of 26 countries assessed: (“Pese a la devaluación, a la industria le falta competitividad - Una medición de Abeceb establece que, entre 26 países, Argentina ocupa el lugar 25 por lo que cuesta producir una unidad de manufactura. ...”)
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1835355-el-alto-costo-de-la-falta-de-competitividad
A reminder that the long history of Peronism installed into Argentine culture the message that there was no need to be competitive.
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