Milei bets on rapprochement with Trump for a new loan with the IMF

Brazil, Argentina’s main trading partner, is expected to grow 2.2% in both 2025 and 2026, according to the agency’s projections. The IMF also estimated that global growth will be 3.3%, both in 2025 and 2026, below the average of recent years, of 3.7%.

IMF projections place Argentina ahead of countries such as Germany, whose growth projection this year is 0.3, Brazil (2.2), China (4.6), United States (2.7) and Japan ( 1.1) and behind India (6.5).

Inflation falls, but consumption plummets in Argentina

Argentine inflation closed at 2.7% in December and 117.8% in the last 12 months — lower than the annual inflation of 211% in 2023. In 2024, Argentina recorded the first financial surplus in 14 years, recorded in 1. 8% of GDP.

The country, however, recorded an 18% drop in consumption, according to international consultancy Sentia — the biggest reduction in history in a period of 12 consecutive months. Furthermore, Argentina has half of its population below the poverty line. According to official data from the Ministry of Human Capital, 49.9% of the country’s inhabitants were poor in the third quarter of 2024,