ALBAWABA - As an element of its World Economic Outlook review on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund downgraded its forecast for Argentina's economic development in 2024 from a 2.8% expansion to a 2.8% contraction, as reported by Reuters, indicating a gloomier assessment of production growth in Latin America overall.
Despite the IMF anticipating output growth in both Brazil and Mexico, the region's two largest economies, to be moderately higher compared to three months ago, the fund still projects 1.9% gross domestic product growth for Latin America and the Caribbean this year, 0.4 percentage points less than the October projection.
Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, the self-described "anarcho-capitalist," has promised to eliminate the budget deficit and stop Argentina's economic downturn, according to AFP, implementing a plan to reduce public expenditure and lower the rate of annual inflation, which has been above 275 percent as of last month, since taking over office in December.
The International Monetary Fund revised its economic estimates on Monday and reported that it now anticipates a 3.5 percent drop in Argentina's GDP this year, 0.75 percentage points over what it previously predicted, citing a "deeper contraction" in non-agricultural production.
The IMF's growth prediction for Argentina has been downgraded by 5.6 percentage points, making it the most significant negative change ever among the outlook updates for the country, according to Reuters.
The IMF added that it has revised down its earlier inflation estimate from January by more than 20 percentage points, and now believes Argentina's inflation to decline to a median annual rate of 232.8 percent this year.
