Argentine President Alberto Fernandez following his inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2019. Photo: Ricardo Morais-Reuters.
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s consumer prices rose 53.8 percent in 2019, the biggest increase in 28 years and a significant challenge to the management of new president Alberto Fernandez in Latin America’s third largest economy.
The inflation rate in 2019, released by the government’s statistics agency on Wednesday, was slightly lower than the 54.6 percent economists forecast in a central bank poll in December.
Argentina is experiencing a weaker economic crisis, the peso, and has increased poverty and unemployment, which helped topple former conservative Mauricio Macri in the presidential election on October 27.
The center-left Fernandez took office on December 10 and inherited a sovereign debt of about $ 100 billion that would require negotiations with Argentine creditors, including the International Monetary Fund, which signed a $ 57 billion financial aid agreement with the South American country.
Wajdi Al-Alfy prepared for the Arab Bulletin
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