AVELLANEDA, Apr 25 (AFP): Argentina's factories, like many economic sectors, are floundering as consumers hit by sky-high inflation and shrinking income buy fewer goods.
Few hold out hope that things will get better any time soon.
"People still have savings" for now, Gustavo Avalos, who owns an ink factory outside Buenos Aires, told AFP. But "the outlook is bleak."
Indeed those savings may run out soon enough, with annual inflation approaching 290 percent and wage-earners losing about a fifth of their purchasing power.
In February, Argentina's economic activity slumped for a fourth straight month as self-described "anarcho-capitalist" President Javier Milei's budget-slashing plans took hold.
The figure dropped by 3.2 percent year-on-year and by 0.2 percent from January as Milei has sought to deregulate the economy and undo trade protections, also devaluing the peso by 50 percent. Eight sectors recorded an annual decline, including construction, manufacturing, wholesale and retail.
Some small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) "can't pay salaries, others can't pay rent," said Avalos, whose factory sales fell by more than two-thirds in December and by 40 percent in March.
Energy prices skyrocketed 500 percent during the same period.
"I can hold on for a year, then we'll see," added Avalos. "Without consumption we... die bit by bit."
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