Data accidentally published by the Mauricio Macri government seemingly forecasts an annual inflation rate of 42 percent for 2018 and a 2.4 percent slump in economic activity, Treasury and Finance Ministry documents revealed Monday.
The data, which it is believed was not intended to be published, appeared in the footnotes of a document titled Actions to achieve fiscal balance, published Monday.
Indicating what seems to have been a slip-up on the part of the Treasury, the document was quickly removed and re-published without the negative data – after screenshots of the footnotes went viral on social media.
'MISTAKES'
Just nine months ago, the government was standing by official inflation estimates of 15 percent while private forecasts put the figure closer to 20 percent.
The Treasury documents published Monday, as both President Mauricio Macri and Treasurer Nicolás Dujovne spoke publicly about Argentina's current woes, also suggested Argentina would reach a one-percent surplus in 2020 with savings of US$5 billion.
On Monday, Dujovne recognised the "the recession is going to be stronger than what we had imagined". He also conceded that the Mauricio Macri government had made "mistakes".
The Treasurer is in Washington to negotiate an advance payment of an installment of the US$50 billion stand-by loan the government secured with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF has put its weight behind the Macri administration, though it is unclear if the government can deliver the economic management needed to comply with agreed-upon austerity measures.
-TIMES/PERFIL
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