The Wall Street Journal has published a piece on the political situation of Argentine president Mauricio Macri, battling inflation, an undelivered electoral pledge, and allegedly very much aware of a long standing spell: no non Peronist president has been able to complete the mandate for which he was elected.
Consumer prices in Argentina rose 24.8% in 2017 after a sharp 3.1% increase in December, government data showed on Thursday, well above the central bank's target range for annual inflation of 12-17%t. The monthly reading, which was above median expectations in December of 2.5%.
Argentina’s central bank cut its policy rate to 28% from 28.75%, two weeks after relaxing its 2018 inflation target, the bank said on Tuesday. The bank’s first rate cut in 14 months came after a December 28 news conference announcing an official inflation target for this year of 15%, up from the bank’s previous target range of 8% to 12%.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday raised its outlook for Argentina’s economic growth to 2.8% in 2017, up from 2.5% seen in October, while keeping its forecast for 2018 growth steady at 2.5%.
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 inflation rate will likely end the year above 21%, Treasury Minister Nicolas Dujovne told reporters on Thursday. The government previously estimated that consumer prices in Latin America's third-biggest economy would rise 17% in 2017.
An IMF visiting team in Buenos Aires concluded its annual review of Argentina's economy and praised the efforts of President Mauricio Macri's nearly two-year-old government to transform the economy saying it has yielded significant gains, but also warned that risks remain.
Argentina's central bank raised its policy rate to 28.75% on Tuesday, up from 27.25% previously, as inflation expectations rise, the monetary authority said in a statement. It was the bank's second consecutive hike after a long period of holding the rate steady.
Argentina's main state-run bank said it lowered its headline interest rates for loans to businesses on Monday amid expectations that inflation will begin to slow in Latin America's third-largest economy, a move that will help put credit back within firms' reach. Banco Nacion, the country's largest financial institution and which also acts as a development bank, set its annual nominal reference rate for business loans at 27%, down from 32%.
Inflation in Argentina during the current month of August could drop to 0.7% because of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the hikes in natural gas prices for residential users, according to the official stats office Indec. Similar stats also indicate a strong contraction of the Argentine economy.