LatinNews Daily - 10 September 2024

*Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released data on construction activity and industrial production in July, showing a year-on-year decrease of 20.4% in construction and of 5.4% in industrial production. These annual decreases are smaller than those registered in the past few months, with construction registering yearly declines of 35.3% in June, 32.6% in May, 37.3% in April, and 42.2% in March and industrial production registering annual drops of 20.2% in June, 15.0% in May, 16.5% in April, and 21.4% in March. Indeed, in monthly terms, both sectors registered an increase, with construction up 8.0% and industrial production up 6.9% on the previous month. In the construction sector, all 13 categories registered annual declines with the biggest yearly drops in granite and limestone slabs (-44.9%) and bathroom ceramics (-34.9%). Eight of the nine categories in the industrial manufacturing production index saw yearly decreases. The largest drops were registered in furniture & other manufacturing industries (-17.6%) and wood, paper, editing, & printing (-17.2%). Food, drinks & tobacco was the only category to register a yearly increase (+5.9%). In the first seven months of the year, construction registered a decrease of 30.9% compared to the same period of 2023, while industrial production registered a drop of 14.6%.