Current Account in Argentina

Argentina's current account is the part of the balance of payments that records its transactions with the rest of the world in goods and services trade, primary income (labour and capital) and secondary income (current transfers, such as remittances). It is published by INDEC.

It is the sum of the goods, services, primary income and secondary income balances, typically quarterly and expressed in US dollars. A positive balance is a current-account surplus and a negative one a deficit, equal to the country's net lending to or borrowing from abroad.

In Argentina the current account is especially sensitive given its history of currency and balance-of-payments crises: a deficit must be financed by capital inflows or reserves, and a worsening balance tends to pressure the peso and the risk premium. A surplus strengthens the external position.

The figures come out with a lag of several weeks or months and are subject to revision as fuller information arrives. In Argentina, moreover, exchange-rate imbalances and capital controls can distort the reading of the flows.