Reading Time: 4 minutesBUENOS AIRES—Argentina today has a two-speed economy, one that defies easy simplification and may hold clues to the future of President Javier Milei.
On the fast track: Agriculture, long a source of strength but now joined by new sectors, surged 32.2% year on year last December, helping to drive overall growth of 4.4% for the year, according to INDEC, Argentina’s national statistics institute. The other stars are oil, up 13% last year thanks to the Vaca Muerta shale fields of Neuquén, while gas rose just 1.7%. Mining as a whole advanced 3.3%, with lithium production soaring more than 40% even as gold and silver declined.
In the slow lane: Public consumption declined 0.9% annually, while investment fell 11.6%. Private surveys indicate that between January and May of this year, consumer spending dropped 3%.
Unemployment has fallen slightly, from 8% to 7.8% over the past year, but the long-standing trend of weak formal job creation and rising informal employment has persisted. About 200,000 people shifted from formal private employment to informal jobs, which have remained stubbornly steady at around 40% of the country’s active population for most of the past two decades.
