Argentine economy starts 2021 in negative territory

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – As expected, Argentina started the year in the red. According to the Monthly Economic Activity Estimator (EMAE) for January, there was a 2% drop in the first month of the year compared to the same period of the previous year.

Although the non-seasonal measurement shows a 1.9% increase in the indicator compared to December – equivalent to the ninth consecutive month of improvement in relation to the previous period- the inter-annual variation indicates that 18 consecutive months of contractions have been completed.

The data released on Tuesday March 30 was more negative than what the market had estimated, given that analysts consulted by Reuters had projected that Argentina would start the new year with a 0.4% contraction of its activity.

In the breakdown by activity, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) indicated that when compared to January 2020, increases were recorded in 7 of the 15 sectors that make up the EMAE, with fishing, construction and financial intermediation showing the highest increases, of 12.3%, 10.2% and 7.2%, respectively.

However, on the down side, hotels and restaurants suffered a contraction of 39.1%, while other community, social and personal services activities registered a decrease of 19.2% in the inaugural month of 2021.

The Monthly Estimator of Economic Activity (EMAE), released this Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) registered a new fall in January, in this case of 2% in relation to the first month of 2020, thus linking 18 consecutive months with a negative sign.

It should be recalled that 2020 closed with a contraction of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 9.9% in the country, with April the most critical month of all, since the EMAE of that month contracted 26%, which is equivalent to the largest drop since 1993.

Source: Diario Financiero