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The Argentine economy contracted 12.6% in the first seven months of 2020 compared to the same period of the previous year, in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the state statistics institute Indec reported on Monday.
In July, economic activity fell 13.2% compared to the same month in 2019 but showed a slight recovery of 1.1 percentage points in relation to June, according to the monthly economic activity estimator (EMAE).
The sectors hardest hit in July, in relation to the same month of 2019, were fishing (-67.1%), hotels and restaurants (-65.4%), community, social and personal services (-60.3 %), construction (-30.1%) and real estate activity (-10.0%). Only the electricity, gas and water sector (+ 4.4%) and financial intermediation (+ 2.9%) had a positive sign in the year-on-year comparison.
The Argentine economy has suffered the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, which led the government to decree a lockdown since March 20, although isolation measures have been made more flexible and modified according to regions and provinces.
In recession since 2018, Argentina had a 2.5% contraction in Gross Domestic Product last year. In its latest forecasts, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated that the third largest economy in Latin America will fall 9.9% in 2020.
On September 1, Argentina came out of the default situation by restructuring 66,137 million dollars of debt with private creditors under foreign legislation and days later another 41,700 million dollars in bonds under local legislation.
After the successful debt swap operation, Argentina began talks with the IMF to replace a stand-by agreement signed in 2018 for 57,000 million dollars, of which it received 44,000 million until when President Alberto Fernández resigned last December. the outstanding credit tranches.
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