Argentina economy grows 0.8% in March from a year earlier

Wednesday, May 24th 2017 - 09:06 UTC

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The Argentine economy grew 1.9% in March versus February, Indec said.

Argentina's economy grew 0.8% in March from a year earlier, the Indec statistics agency said on Tuesday. The economy also grew 1.9% in March versus February, Indec said.On Tuesday the Argentines central bank also kept its benchmark interest rate at 26.25% and said it believes the country's inflation rate is easing in May.

It was the third monetary policy meeting since the bank raised its key rate on April 11, warning at the time of higher inflation expectations.

“The estimates and indicators from private and state monitors for the central bank suggest that in May the economy has returned to disinflation,” the bank said in a statement.

Consumer prices rose 2.6% in April, up from 2.4% in March, the government's Indec statistics agency said earlier this month.

Twelve-month inflation through April was 27.5%, Indec said in its first 12-month reading since President Mauricio Macri took office in late 2015. Consumer price data published by the previous government was widely dismissed as inaccurate.

The bank is targeting 12-month inflation of 12% to 17% for the end of the year, though the latest central bank survey of economists puts it at 21%. In 2016 at 40%, Argentina had one of the world's highest inflation rates that year.

While the bank fights inflation, Macri is trying to get the economy moving ahead of an October mid-term election that could be crucial to his chances for getting more of his pro-market policy changes through Congress after eight years of free-spending populism under previous leader Cristina Fernandez.

Categories: Economy, Argentina.

Tags: Argentina, argentina economy, Indec index.

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Zaphod Beeblebrox
Good news, the Argentine economy is growing and has grown over the last year.

However, in a previous thread Reekie stated “If you have been following MP in the last few months, you may have noticed that good news about Argentina is about something that is going to happen--in the future. Never about something that happened or is happening.” The problem for Reekie is that whenever he makes such claims it only takes one news item to blow his claim. This single item of good news destroys Reekie's “Never”. Oh dear. :-)

The thing about positive predictions for the future is that if you have enough of them, some will come true and they also boost confidence.
May 24th, 2017 - 05:47 pm +1
Jack Bauer
Reekie's outlook on the Argentine economy is like a 'catch 22' situation ......If it's doing well, he'll claim it's only because of something that has nothing to do with Macri's policies....if it's doing badly , it's the proverbial “I told you so”...his opinions are as relevant as a fart in the wind.
May 24th, 2017 - 06:26 pm +1

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