LatinNews Daily - 26 February 2025

*Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released its latest monthly estimate of economic activity (Emae) for December 2024, showing a 5.5% annual increase and a 0.5% rise as compared to the previous month. The annual rise in the Emae in December is the largest recorded since August 2022. The yearly result was driven by growth in nine productive sectors, with financial intermediation (+18.0%) and commerce (+7.4%) registering the greatest gains. Six sectors recorded annual declines in December, with the most significant in the fishing (-25.0%) and construction (-7.2%) sectors. The accumulated Emae for 2024 registered a contraction of 1.8% – a marginally worse result than the contraction of 1.6% registered in 2023. Argentina’s President Javier Milei took to social media to celebrate the December Emae figures which he said were the result of “the greatest fiscal adjustment in history”.