"Milei's policies (...) are those that we believe are necessary for the country," explained the bank's financial director, Luisa Gómez Bravo.
BBVA has anticipated that the "harsh medicines" that the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has implemented as part of his plan to reduce inflation and the country's deficit are necessary, although it estimates that they will cause the gross domestic product (GDP) ) of the country will contract by 4% this year.
"Milei's policies (...) are those that we believe are necessary for the country," explained BBVA's financial director, Luisa Gómez Bravo.
The board has indicated that inflation continues to be the biggest concern of Argentines and has highlighted that the measures that Milei has taken since coming to power have already begun to have an effect, with a price increase of 11% in the month of March. , compared to the 25% registered in December.
"In any case, it is evident that Milei has to get support to pass the structural reforms that the country needs. These measures will have a negative impact on Argentina's growth this year. We expect a 4% drop in GDP in 2024 , but it is true that if he manages to implement these measures, next year will be a year of very positive growth for Argentina," explained the financial director.
Likewise, he has anticipated that the austerity plan that Milei initially proposed, to lower the primary fiscal deficit from 5% to 0%, was something "complicated to achieve", so the bank estimates that the deficit will reach 1% "to accommodate "social concerns" and to have "greater respite as it undertakes the harsh medicines that the country needs to move forward.
BBVA closed the first quarter with an attributable net profit of US$ 36 million, 33.2% below that obtained in the first quarter of 2023. For its part, income contracted 34.3%, to US$ 118 ,6 millions. These declines are due to the country's hyperinflation situation.
The monetary losses due to this inflationary situation in Argentina reached US$ 700 million between January and March 2024, higher than the US$ 252 million collected in the first quarter of 2023.
