According to data released on Thursday by the INDEC statistics office, Argentina’s damaged economy shrank by 1.6% in 2023.
According to the report, the decline for December was 3.1 percent from November and 4.5 percent from the same month a year earlier.
According to an INDEC analysis, the industries most severely impacted were manufacturing, wholesale, retail, and financial services.
According to government figures, Argentina experienced a severe drought in 2023 that negatively impacted its agroexport sector and reduced GDP by 3.0 percentage points.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund — to which Argentina owes $44 billion — revised its forecast downward with a contraction of 2.8 percent in 2024.
Ultra-liberal new President Javier Milei was elected on promises to slash state spending.
He has slashed thousands of public jobs, decreased the size of the government, and depreciated the peso by more than 50% since taking office in December.
Argentina increased its limited foreign exchange reserves from $21 billion to $27 billion in January, while also reporting its first monthly budget surplus in 12 years.
Inflation this year has reached 254%.
During her two-day visit to the nation on Thursday, IMF deputy managing director Gita Gopinath met with Milei on “how best to take the country forward,” calling the meeting “excellent and substantive.”
