LatinNews Daily - 20 July 2023

* Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released new figures which show that the country registered a trade deficit of US$1.73bn in June 2023, compared to a deficit of just US$115m in June 2022. According to Indec figures, this is the largest monthly deficit recorded in data going back to 1967. Exports in June 2023 totalled US$5.45bn, a 35.4% drop year-on-year, while imports totalled US$7.18bn, a 17.2% decrease. The drop in exports was driven by a decrease in sales of primary products (-36.7%), and manufactured goods of agricultural origin (-36.1%) – indicative of the severe drought which Argentina’s government has described as the worst in the country’s history – as well as in manufactured goods of industrial origin (-32.1%) and fuel & energy (-37.7%). The top export destinations in June were Brazil, accounting for US$922m of exports, (down 24.7% on last year), the European Union (US$527m, down 42.2%) and China (US$475m, down 22.9%). Brazil was also the top source of imports, accounting for US$1.99bn of imports (up 11.1% on 2022), along with China which provided US$1.27bn of imports, down 19.6%, and the US, which accounted for US$1.01bn of imports, a drop of 34.2%. In the first six months of 2023, Argentina’s exports totalled US$33.51bn, down 24.5% on the same period in 2022, while imports totalled US$37.90bn, down 8.5%, leaving a deficit of US$4.39bn. This compares with a trade surplus of US$2.98bn registered in the first six months of 2022.