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.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri will hold talks with his new Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday likely to center on consolidating trade ties between South America's two biggest economies, officials said. Battling recession and seeking re-election this year, Macri needs to boost Buenos Aires's side of a steep trade imbalance with its main trading partner.
Argentina industrial production plummeted 13.3% in October 2018 after plunging 6.8% in the previous month. It was the seventh straight drop and the sharpest decline since June 2002, as all categories fell excluding tobacco (+1.5%) and basic metals (+4.1%).
Economic activity in Argentina fell 4.0% in October versus the same month last year, the government said on Thursday, marking the seventh straight month of declines as the country grapples with recession and high inflation.
The Argentine government announced on Thursday new increases in public transport rates, some 40% on average that will apply from next January to travel by bus, train and metro.
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) completed on Wednesday the second review of Argentina’s economic performance under the 36-month Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) that was approved on June 20, 2018.
Argentina is in recession after its economy shrank by 3.5% during the third trimester of 2018, the state statistics bureau said on Tuesday. It was the second such shrinkage in a row after the economy shrank 4.0% in the second quarter, with respect to the same period a year ago.
The number of people living in poverty in Brazil grew by two million last year in the wake of the country's worst recession on record, according to the government statistics bureau.
A no-deal Brexit could send the pound plunging and trigger a worse recession than the financial crisis, the Bank of England has warned. It said the UK economy could shrink by 8% in the immediate aftermath if there was no transition period, while house prices could fall by almost a third. The Bank of England also warned the pound could fall by a quarter.
The industrial production in Argentina dropped 4.8% in October compared to the same period a year ago, accumulating a seven-month consecutive slide, according to the Center of Economic Studies from Orlando Ferreres. Between January and October manufacturing activity registers a 3.5% contraction relative to the same period in 2017.