Public and private financial entities earned in November 2019, ARG$26 billion ($4.35 billion), 143.9% more than in the same period of 2018 and 317.9% more than in 2015, according to a report by the Central Bank (BCRA). However, the improvement was uneven: private banks grew 566.7% in four years while public banks decreased their profit by 37.9%.
With a rate of 53.8%, Argentina became the third country in the world with the highest inflation in 2019, after Venezuela and Zimbabwe, according to the latest report of the International Monetary Fund. Its performance contrasts with the one-digit increase in retail prices in the rest of South America and with the situation of the top 20 countries on the list.
The fiscal deficit of 2019 was ARG$846 billion ($14.13 billion), equivalent to 3.9% of Argentina’s GDP, according to the budget execution report published by the Congressional Budget Office (OPC). A higher tax collection and the adjustment over public spending allowed a primary surplus of ARG$5.5 billion or 0.3% of GDP, which implied an improvement of 2.2 percentage points in relation to 2018.
Argentina’s consumer prices increased 53.8% in 2019, the National Statistics and Census Institute (Indec) reported. It is the highest inflation rate since 1991, when it was 84%, one year after hyperinflation left a price increase of 1,343.9%.
Argentina is becoming a major player in biotechnology and a place primed for startups since the Biotechnolgy Law 2018. One well-established example of a success story is Rosario-based Bioceres which hit the New York Stock Exchange recently. Amongst the ten top are Caspr, Michroma, WeBio, Cell Farm, Alytix, Bitgenia, Beeflow, algaebio, Aplife, and MZP Tecnología.
