Economic activity in Argentina fell 3.3% in September compared to the same month in 2023, marking four consecutive months of decline, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) reported this Friday.
The data, which serves as provisional advance to measure quarterly variation of the gross domestic product (GDP), also shows a contraction of 0.3% compared to last August.
In the ninth month of the year, the various economic sectors operated in a inflationary deceleration scenariobut continues to be very high in year-on-year terms (209% in September).
Consumption continued to declinein a scenario of strong adjustment carried out by the Government of Javier Milei, although with a fall not as abrupt as that registered in the first half of the year.
According to Indec figures, in September, the sectors that rose They were Agriculture, with 3.1%; Mining with 7.6%, Financial Activity, with 2.5%, and Teaching, with 0.4%.
On the contrary, the divisions that fell were Construction, with -16.6%; Commerce, with -8.3%; and the Manufacturing Industry, with -6.2%.
In the first nine months of the year, Argentina’s economic activity has accumulated a decline of 3.1%.
According to the latest private projections collected by the Central Bank, Argentina’s GDP would fall 3.6% in 2024from a contraction of the 1.6% in 2023.
Looking to 2025, projections are generally positivealthough while the Government predicts a vigorous recovery of the economy of 5%, private consultants surveyed by the Central Bank predict a more moderate growth, of 3.6%.
National Endowment for the Arts without “giving away money”
On the other hand, the Government of Argentina announced this Friday a “deep restructuring” of the National Fund for the Arts (FNA)with the aim of rescue “the original spirit” of this body that, in his opinion, spends an “unacceptable proportion” of its resources on itself instead of “being a source of financing for artists.”
“The organization needed a major redesign: collects royalties from universal works but spends an unacceptable proportion of those resources on itself; thus a body that was supposed to help art in practice over the years was becoming a burden for the sector”expressed the Minister of Deregulation and Transformation of the State, Federico Sturzenegger, on the social network X.
Sturzenegger has added that the purpose of this decree is “to organize the tasks of the FNA and rescue its original spirit: to be a source of financing for artists”, which is why it will limit the use of its funds to “granting of credits to artists who, in addition, will be denominated in UVAs in order to avoid the liquefaction of capital”.
The Argentine Executive has indicated that the FNA allocated in 2023 the 72% of your budget to operating expenses and has claimed that the announced changes seek “a sustainable FNA for the benefit of artists and not bureaucracy”, in such a way that “its main activity is to offer opportunities and financing but not to give away money.”
Nevertheless, The decree contemplates private donationswhich will be “the only resources that can be used to grant scholarships or subsidies”, along with the financial gains from the credits.
Likewise, the new regulations – in force for all purposes as of April 1, 2025 – will reduce the powers of the Fund’s board of directors, which will become ‘ad honorem’after “Kirchnerism assigned him hefty salaries,” in the same way that will cut its staff payrolls by 25%“generating a more efficient and professional structure.”
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