Argentina’s economy grew 12.8 % year-on-year in August

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Economic activity in Argentina experienced a 12.8% growth in August compared to the same month of 2020, the sixth year-on-year rise after 19 consecutive months in decline, official sources reported Thursday.

This growth is explained mainly by a low base of comparison. In August 2020, the economic activity was still affected by the sanitary restrictions imposed at the end of March last year by the Government of Alberto Fernandez, given the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Argentina

On the other hand, the data released this Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), which serves as a provisional advance to measure the quarterly variation of the gross domestic product (GDP), shows that in August the economic activity grew 1.1% compared to July, adding three consecutive months in positive, after the stagnation registered between February and May.

In the first eight months of the year, economic activity accumulated an increase of 10.8%.

The Indec report reveals that, out of 16 activities included in the indicator, all productive sectors showed year-on-year improvements in the eighth month of the year.

According to the data released this Thursday, the sectors with the highest growth rates were hotels and restaurants (35%) and construction activity (26.7%).

Meanwhile, the least dynamic sectors were fishing (2.8%), agriculture (0.8%), and financial services (0.3%).

Severely affected by the covid-19 pandemic, Argentina’s GDP plummeted by 9.9% in 2020.

According to the draft Budget 2022, the Argentine economy would end this year with an 8% recovery, ending a three-year cycle of severe recession, and would grow by 4% in 2022.

Meanwhile, the projections of private economists consulted monthly by the Argentine Central Bank for its expectations report are slightly more moderate. According to their forecasts, the Argentine economy will recover 7.6% in 2021 and expand 2.3% next year.