Argentia recorded its biggest-ever trade surplus in 2024, the INDEC statistics agency said Monday — partly due to a drop in imports caused by economic recession.
The South American country recorded a positive trade balance to the tune of $18.8 billion last year, compared to a deficit of $6.9 billion the year before, the data showed.
The agro-exporting country’s previous biggest trade surplus was for a figure of $16.8 billion in 2009.
Argentina’s livestock and grain exports, badly hit by a historic drought in 2023, recovered the following year. Exports were further boosted by President Javier Milei’s devaluation of the peso shortly after taking office in December 2023.
Imports fell sharply in 2024, however, as the libertarian Milei’s cost-cutting policies took root, causing a slump in spending.
Argentina’s economy contracted 2.1 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2024.
For 2025, the government is counting on a rebound, with growth of five percent — the same figure predicted by the International Monetary Fund.
