Argentina | BBVA Research Big Data Consumption Indicator (May-22)

Summary

In April, total consumption with BBVA cards showed a year-on-year increase of 12.2%. Most items already exceed the average pre-pandemic spending so far in 2022. Although consumption is recovering, it shows a significant slowness that reflects its lack of dynamism.

Key points

• Key points:
• In April, card consumption grew 12.2% YoY. The analysis of the daily evolution indicates that the highest YoY increases were registered during the last week of that month, while the lowest ones corresponded to the days of Easter Week.
• The real-time fuel consumption indicator, proxy of the activity performance, gives a glimpse of the fragility of the recovery of the economy as a whole through the ups and downs of the last measurements.
• Supermarket purchases also slowed down and remained below the average they exhibited in 2019, both in real amounts and in number of transactions. On the other hand, it shows that the further depreciation of the peso and the acceleration of inflation are putting a brake on the growth of construction, according to the expenses surveyed with BBVA cards.
• Our foreign trade indicator also warns about a reduction in April of the trade balance as a consequence of a retraction of exports.
• Although total consumption is gradually recovering, when compared with other BBVA Group countries, Argentina shows considerable sluggishness that reflects its lack of dynamism to achieve a much more pronounced trend.

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