Economic activity dropped 3.8% in August year-on-year

Argentina's economy shrank 3.8 percent in August year-on-year, the INDEC national statistics bureau said Thursday, the biggest monthly slump since April.

Economic activity has declined by 2.3 percent in total since the start of the year, the bureau's data revealed, and dropped one percent in comparison to July.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently predicted that Argentina's gross domestic product would decline by 3.1 percent in 2019, pointing to a deep recession that has lasted over a year.

Strongest economic performances were registered in agriculture, livestock, hunting and forestry (up 6.5 percent), with the largest falls seen in financial intermediation (down 16.4 percent), wholesale, retail and repairs (down 8.8 percent) and manufacturing (down 6.6 percent).

Inflation this year is expected to close at 57.3 percent. GDP fell by 2.5 percent in 2018, according to INDEC.

– TIMES/NA/AFP