Florencia Iragui, from the consulting firm LCG, analyzed consumer behavior on Aconcagua Radio.

Florencia Iragui, a member of the consulting firm LCG, analyzed the recent behavior of consumption and economic activity during an interview withAconcagua Radio . In a context marked by economic uncertainty, Iragui emphasized that demand movements cannot be observed through a sectoral lens, but rather as part of a broader phenomenon that affects all sectors.

Asked if they perceive a downward trend in consumption, Iragui was cautious. "Let's see, we don't know exactly how each item is doing: if this went up, if that went down. Also, it could be that people restrict other things in order to be able to eat a piece of bread, which is so essential to Argentine food," she noted, emphasizing how consumption priorities are reorganized in times of crisis.

For the economist, the most useful approach isn't to observe isolated increases or decreases, but to understand the overall behavior of the sectors. "I think the important thing is to understand that it's a set of sectors, and it's not so much about seeing if this one went up or the other one went down (although anyone who works in that sector experiences this firsthand). It's about understanding that the sectors as a whole in March and April, due to the instability and uncertainty that prevailed especially at the end of March and the beginning of April, have led to these two months now being a little more subdued," she explained.

Iragui's assessment comes amid the recent publication of the EMAE (Monthly Estimator of Economic Activity) by INDEC (National Institute of Statistics and Census), which showed a 0.8% increase in February compared to January. According to the economist, "this index has been growing since May and has already accumulated 8.7 points. This is strong growth, albeit after some rather abrupt declines."

However, he anticipated that the outlook for the following months could be less encouraging: "After that, perhaps in March, since the first few weeks were a bit quieter, we could see growth of around 0.2%. Almost unchanged, we'd say. But April could be a bit more negative."

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