Xinhua, Buenos Aires :
Inflation, unemployment, fiscal deficit and attracting foreign investment are the main challenges awaiting Argentina in 2017, according to economist Maria Cecilia Peralta.
In an interview with Xinhua, the co-founder of the Asia Viewers consultancy, said 2017 would be faced with “great challenges…after a turbulent year which saw a change in strategies” by the country’s President Mauricio Macri.
“During 2016, measures were taken to deactivate previous mechanisms, such as restrictions on currency exchange, limitations on commodities, and subsidies for public services…as we move from one administration to another,” said Peralta.
In her opinion, the changes “have generated new macroeconomic adjustments and led to new challenges which deepened during the first year of the Macri government.”
According to government data, in the third quarter of 2016, unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent and GDP contracted by 3.8 percent in Argentina.
“It is expected that the GDP drop in 2016 will be between 2 and 2.5 percent. Economic activity and job creation will therefore be some of the major challenges for 2017, which various ministries already know,” Peralta said.
