BUENOS AIRES_ The trade balance of Argentina In December, after the strong devaluation of the peso, the negative trend that continued throughout 2023 was reversed, which however closed with an annual deficit of 6,926 million dollars, the official Indec institute reported on Thursday.
On December 13, the government of Javier Milei devalued the peso by more than 50%, which strongly boosted exports in the last month of the year, which produced a surplus of 1,018 million dollars.
Driven mainly by sales from the agroindustrial sector, Argentina exported $5,273 million in December (still 13.8% less than the same month in 2022) and imported $4,255 million (-15.2%).
February had been the last month of 2023 with a trade surplus, under a regime of control of the exchange and import markets that the Milei government has begun to make more flexible.
In all of 2023, Argentina sold abroad for 66,788 million dollars, 24.5% less than in 2022 due to a drought that hit agro-export activity completely and subtracted 3% from GDP, according to the previous government. Imports totaled 73,714 million (-9.6%).
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The devaluation impacted the increase in exports and, in turn, the Central Bank’s foreign currency purchases, whose weakened reserves reached $24.3 billion on Thursday, some $5 billion accumulated during the new government.
The projection of the Argentine trade balance for 2024 is a surplus for the coming years “starting from an expected balance of 22.4 billion for 2024, until reaching a surplus close to 41.8 billion dollars by 2030,” according to a report from the Central Bank.
In this trend, the new network of oil and gas pipelines built and under construction will be decisive, which will contribute to replacing imports and will allow fuel exports to go from an estimated 10.4 billion to 36.7 billion in 2030, adds the document, cited by the agency. Télam state.
Source: AFP
