Argentina’s GDP grew by 10.3% in 2021, but “the recovery is already over”
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to data released on March 23, Argentina’s economy grew 10.3% last year, its best performance since 2004, as the country recovered from a long and deep recession exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the economic recovery lost momentum in the last three months of the year. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.5% from the previous third quarter, which fell short of economists’ expectations of 1.7% growth.
According to economist Nicolás Alonzo of the consulting firm Ferreres & Asociados, the last quarter’s result was due to “the slight slowdown in investment, influenced by the approximately 100% difference between the official and parallel exchange rates.”
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), GDP grew 8.6% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, driven by a 23% increase in exports, a 15.8% increase in industrial production, and a 13.2% increase in trade.
In a separate report, Indec said the unemployment rate fell to 7%, its lowest level since 2015. Formal employment in the private sector has almost fully recovered the losses caused by the pandemic and is expected to increase by 188,000 jobs by 2021.
Argentina has seen annual growth rates of around 10% in recent months as it recovers from a very low base following a recession that began in 2018.
“For this year, we expect growth of 3.5%, a figure favored by the statistics, but signs suggest that the recovery phase is over,” Alonso said.
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