Argentine economic outlook worsens: central bank poll

[BUENOS AIRES] Argentine inflation is on its way to an eye-watering 40.3 per cent in 2019 while the economy shrinks 1.5 per cent, according to a central bank poll of 48 analysts released on Tuesday, showing broadly more pessimist forecasts than a month earlier.

In the same poll released in early May, economists said they expected full-year 2019 inflation at 40.0 per cent with a forecasted recession of 1.3 per cent.

Economic turmoil in Argentina has left nearly a third of the country in poverty, pushed interest rates skyward and sent the peso tumbling against the dollar. Inflation increased nearly 50 per cent in 2018, driven by a run on the local currency.

President Mauricio Macri is running for reelection in the October general election while trying to balance the hardships faced by Argentines with the need to enforce austerity as part of a US$56.3 billion financing deal struck with the International Monetary Fund last year.

REUTERS