Argentina in recession as economy shrinks again

Argentina in recession as economy shrinks again

The IMF predicts that Argentina's economy will shrink by 2.6% this year and another 1.6% in 2019.

Demonstrators throw stones at riot police outside the Congress while Argentine Deputies began the discussion on the government’s austere 2019 budget, in Buenos Aires. (AFP pic)
BUENOS AIRES:
Argentina is in recession after it’s 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% in the second quarter, with respect to the same period a year ago.

Gross domestic product is down by 1.4% from January to September compared with 2017.

The hardest hit sectors were business (down 8.9%), fishing (-7.3%) and manufacturing (-6.6). But finance was up by 5.1%.

Argentina has been gripped by an economic crisis this year that forced President Mauricio Macri to agree a US$56 billion (RM234 billion) bailout loan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

It came as confidence in the peso crumbled, sending the currency into a freefall that saw it lose half its value against the dollar.

The IMF predicts that Argentina’s economy will shrink by 2.6% this year and another 1.6% in 2019.

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