Argentina's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 1.8% in January 2018, after increasing 3.1% in December 2017, said the country's statistics office Indec. Despite the deceleration, the reading was higher than market expectations for the monthly consumer price inflation (+1.5%). The result was primarily influenced by higher costs for entertainment and culture (+3.5%).
Argentina’s central bank held its benchmark seven-day interbank lending rate at 27.25% on Wednesday, the monetary authority said in a statement, amid an increase in inflation expectations and “mixed signals” in prices so far this year.
The economic activity index in Argentina, a proxy for the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), rose 3.9% in November from a year before - decelerating from October, when the index posted an annual rise of 5.2%.
Argentina posted a primary fiscal deficit worth 3.9% of GDP in 2017, below its 4.2% goal and the 4.6% figure posted in 2016, Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne told reporters. He said the government’s 2018 target for a primary fiscal deficit remained at 3.2% of GDP, with targets of deficits worth 0.6% in the first quarter, 1.6% in the second quarter and 2.2% in the third quarter.
Argentina’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 2.9% in 2017, and grew 0.7% in the fourth quarter from the third quarter, a Treasury Ministry source said on Friday, bouncing back from a 2.2% contraction the prior year.
Good and not so good news from Argentina. Merval, the main index of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, rose 0.79% to 32,505.59 points on Friday, a new settlement record that marked the 13th consecutive session of gains to the Argentine stock market. Merval had a weekly gain of 7.11%.
Argentina changed its inflation target for 2018 to 15%, up from the central bank’s previous goal of 8-12%, Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne said on Thursday, raising expectations for interest rate cuts. The government will postpone by one year its goal of lowering inflation to 5%, pushing it back to 2020, Dujovne said.
Argentina's state-owned oil company YPF will pay US$ 114 million to Transportadora de Gas del Mercosur (TGM) to end a conflict that began in 2009 when the company suspended the shipment of natural gas.
Credit risk rating agency Moody's expects Argentina's economic recovery to continue in 2018 and 2019, helped by the reforms advanced by the Mauricio Macri's administration in the last two years.
Merval, the main index of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, rose 1.51% Thursday, closing at 28,494.01 points - close to exceeding the maximum of the year, by 28,500 points. The Argentine stocks were driven by the approval of the pension and tax reforms passed this week in the House of Representatives.