Economic activity fell 1.5% in April compared to March
Economic activity fell 1.5% in April compared to March, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) through the Monthly Estimator of Economic Activity (EMAE). The figure corresponds to the seasonally adjusted series, which allows comparison of monthly evolution without the effects specific to each period of the year.
The decline in April broke the strong rebound recorded in March, when the EMAE had advanced 3.1% compared to February. Thus, the economy once again showed a sign of monthly decline, even though the comparison with the same month last year remained positive.
In year-on-year terms, activity grew 1.6% compared to April 2025. However, that figure was far from March's jump, when the indicator had risen 6.2% year-on-year. The report also noted that the trend-cycle component had a positive variation of 0.3%.
April's performance left a double reading: the economy remains above the level of a year ago, but lost momentum in the short term. In the first four months of 2026, the accumulated figure shows an improvement of 2.1% compared to the same period of the previous year.
According to INDEC, seven of the fifteen sectors that make up the EMAE recorded year-on-year increases. The main improvements were Mining and quarrying, with an increase of 17.1%, and Agriculture, livestock, hunting and forestry, with a rise of 10.9%.
Agriculture was the sector with the greatest positive impact on the overall result. Along with mining, it contributed 1.8 percentage points to the indicator's year-on-year growth.
In contrast, eight sectors fell compared to April 2025. The steepest decline was Fishing, with a drop of 28.4%. Also falling were Wholesale and retail trade and repairs, down 3.2%; Manufacturing industry, down 2.9%; Construction, down 1.8%; and Public administration and defense, down 1.3%.
Industry and trade were the branches with the greatest negative impact on the month's result. Along with Fishing, they subtracted 0.9 percentage points from the EMAE's year-on-year variation.
The official report shows that the beginning of the year had an irregular behavior. January grew 2% year-on-year, February fell 1.5%, March had a strong rebound of 6.2%, and April slowed again, with a year-on-year increase of 1.6% but a monthly decline of 1.5%.
The next EMAE technical report, corresponding to May 2026, will be released on Wednesday, July 22.
