Argentina: No REM report until after PASO elections

Argentina: No REM report until after PASO elections

The survey will be published by the BCRA on Aug. 15

Argentina’s Central Bank (BCRA) Wednesday postponed the release of its monthly Relevamiento de Expectativas de Mercado (REM) report until after the Aug. 13 Open, Mandatory and Simultaneous Primary (PASO) elections, it was announced in Buenos Aires.

The study, which usually delves into monthly private projections on the evolution of prices, will be published on the same day as the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The decision was taken due to “the mistakes of the consulting firms in the inflation estimates of the last months,” BCRA sources quoted by local media explained.

“As it was, the consulting firms were exposed to give their opinion on the previous month’s inflation two or three days before the official data was released,” the sources went on. For this reason, the survey will be published on Aug. 15.

“So when they load this month’s data, the inflation data will have to be calculated to make the estimates,” the BCRA sources added.

Despite a positive outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Global Economic Prospects Report estimated that Argentina’s economy will fall 2.5% this year.

Read also: Latin America to grow this year above IMF’s previous projections

The IMF had projected in April that Argentina’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would grow by 0.2 % this year.

“Argentina is facing a very difficult situation, particularly worsened by the drought,” said IMF chief economist Pierre-Oliviar Gourinchas during a press conference from the Fund’s headquarters in Washington, United States. The South American country could end 2023 with inflation close to 120 percent, the organization projected.