Argentina | Real-time consumption monitoring (Mar 10, 2021)

Summary

During the second half of February, total consumption recorded an average drop of 2.6% YoY, which contracted to -8% at the beginning of March. The growth of the construction sector ratifies the trend of our spending indicators. Changes in the dynamics of ATM cash withdrawals were observed.

Key points

• Key points:
• Spending on goods averaged a 10% YoY decline since our previous report, and spending on services 22% YoY, as a result of depressed consumption across the board. The declines intensified at the beginning of March.
• Compared to January 2020, and analyzing in real terms, goods items have weathered the pandemic better than services items. Within each category, behavior is heterogeneous.
• Again, official data on construction activity corroborate the trend captured by our real-time consumption indicator during January 2021.
• Consumption made with debit cards exceeded those made with credit cards, both in number of transactions and in real amount.
• ATM cash withdrawals are 20% below the pre-pandemic level in number of transactions and returning to the real average amount at the time.

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