LatinNews Daily - 17 April 2024

*Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that “progress so far has been really impressive” in relation to the economic stabilisation plan being implemented by Argentina’s new right-wing government led by President Javier Milei. Gourinchas made his comments at an event to present the latest edition of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) which maintained its GDP growth projection for Argentina at -2.8% in 2024, in line with its January forecast. Gourinchas said that the Argentine government’s plan “is centred on a strong fiscal anchor that eliminates, in particular, any central bank financing of the government, which was one of the factors that was leading to very elevated inflation numbers… in previous years. And so that is already showing its effects. We see this sharp decline in month-on-month inflation.” Argentina’s monthly inflation in March was 11.0%, down from 13.2% in February, 20.6% in January and 25.5% in December 2023. Gourinchas also highlighted the fact that Argentine authorities have been “able to record a fiscal surplus for the first time in over a decade”. However, he said that “much more needs to be done, and much more needs to be done on the broader scale.”