Argentinas economy grows by 1.9% in January, driven by agriculture and mining

Argentina’s economic activity grew by 1.9% in January interannually and 0.4% compared to December 2025, according to the government’s statistics institute, the INDEC. With a 25.1% growth, the agriculture, livestock, hunting, and forestry sector had the greatest positive impact on the index’s year-over-year change, followed by mining and quarrying, which saw a 9.6% increase. The sector that recorded the highest interannual increase was fishing, which grew by 50.8%. The three divisions that saw the steepest drops were wholesale, retail trade, and repairs (-3.2%); electricity, gas and water (-3%); and manufacturing industry (-2.6%). On Thursday, the day the INDEC published the report, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said in a X post that the index “reached a new all-time high, both in the seasonally adjusted series and in the trend-cycle indicator.” President Javier Milei shared Caputo’s post, with the caption “THE ECONOMY CONTINUES TO GROW” on his X account, followed by “TMAP,” initials of “all is going according to plan” in Spanish. Lower than forecasts Economist Hernán Lechter, head of the Centre of Argentine Political Economy (CEPA), said that “the sectors driving growth account for only 9.2% of registered private-sector employment.” “The worst-performing sectors account for 44.7% of registered private-sector jobs,” he posted on X. Lechter calculated that if the level of economic activity seen in January 2026 were to hold throughout 2026, the economy would grow by 2.4%.  “This figure is lower than the forecast in the Central Bank’s market expectations survey (+3.4%),” he concluded.