As Argentina's Macri lifts statistical blackout, official INDEC data confirms a deep recession.
For the first time since Argentine Prosident Mauricio Macri decreed a data blackout just days after taking office six months ago, the INDEC statistics bureau published updates yesterday on the industrial and construction sectors - with both registering sharp declines.
Despite the Macri administration’s reiterated promises for a rebound for the second half of the year the economy continues to slump, official figures show. The industrial sector shrank 6.7% in April compared to the same month last year, accumulating a 2.4% decline in the first four months of the year. Construction, meanwhile, collapsed by 24.1% in April from the same time a year earlier, having already declined 10.3% so far in 2016.
The last data the INDEC bureau had released for either sector was for October 2015. Industry at the time had slowed by 1.7% after six consecutive positive months, while construction grew by 4.2%. Over 48,000 jobs were lost in the construction sector, INDEC data showed - nearly one third of the 155,000 lost since Macri took office.
The industrial recession was widespread, with the steepest declines registered in cement (23.6%), dairy products (20.9%), beverages (17.8%), machinery (17.4%), steel (16.9%), and beef (11.5%). The most significant increases, on the other hand, were in glass (17.4%), tires (7.3%), and textiles (6.8%).
Data related to construction materials had few bright spots, however. Sales declines for supplies such as asphalt (48.8%), concrete (27.6%), rebar (26%), and cinder blocks (25.7%) were the steepest since the depths of the 2002 crisis.
While Macri officials attempted to blame April's steep declines - the sharpest since 2002 - on heavy rainfall, most economists pointed to lower consumer spending and the austerity policies implemented by the Macri administration.
“The economic policies so far implemented led to a drop of the domestic market, making people consume less. The rain might have influenced some sectors like agriculture; but not all of them,” Mariano Kestelboim, chief economist at the University of Buenos Aires, told the Herald. “We are facing a similar macroeconomic scenario as Brazil. Consumption will continue to fall with people’s purchasing power.”
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/215349/indec-reveals-severe-industrial-slump
