Sales of new cars in Argentina collapsed by almost 50% in the first quarter of 2019, the Association of Automobile Dealers of Argentina (ACARA) said Monday. Sales fell by 49.5% in the year-on-year comparison, with purchases down 50.4% in March year-on-year too, said ACARA.
Contrasting and controversial political ads for the Argentine presidential election next October have emerged allegedly launched by Mauricio Macri's advisory team, and they have caused quite a surprise when not a stir. The idea is to promote public works and investments undertaken by the Macri administration despite the virulent criticism of current policies.
The poverty rate in Argentina during the second half of 2018 rose to 32%, or six percentage points from the same period the previous year, while 6.7% of citizens are living in a state of extreme poverty or indigence. The data was released by the INDEC Argentina's official statistics bureau on Thursday.
Argentina’s central bank wants to license market makers to help stabilize its embattled peso currency when the Treasury starts newly announced dollar sales in April. The bank hopes the market makers, dealers who agree to buy and sell at set prices, would bolster liquidity in the exchange market to help avoid the sharp gyrations the peso has suffered in recent weeks when it hit a record low of 42.5 pesos per dollar in thin trading.
Argentina’s stubbornly high inflation accelerated again in February, the government said on Thursday, sparking the central bank chief to pledge new measures to rein in rising prices that have dogged the South American economy over the last year.
Argentina’s struggling currency hit a record low against the dollar on Thursday, weakening over 4% to close at 42.5 pesos per dollar, a challenge for President Mauricio Macri as he looks to right the economy ahead of elections in October.
Argentina's economic activity fell 2.6% in 2018 versus the previous year, government statistics agency Indec said on Wednesday, underscoring the turmoil that dragged the country into recession last year.
Thousands took to the streets in 50 Argentine cities and towns Wednesday demanding that the government declare a food emergency and put an end to suffocating price increases. Since President Mauricio Macri came to power in 2015, electricity bills have gone up 210% and gas 300%. The government blamed the increase on the removal of significant subsidies in place under the previous administration.
The construction industry in Argentina ended 2018 with a paltry 0.8% growth, and although taking off at the beginning of last year with a vigorous impulse but beginning May, when the financial situation forced the Peso to lose half of its purchasing power, activity started to freeze ending December with a 20.5% collapse.
Wholesale prices in Argentina shot 73.5% higher in 2018, government data showed on Thursday, the fastest rate since 2002 when they climbed 118% during an economic crisis that tossed millions of middle-class Argentines into poverty.