(Adds quote, details)
BUENOS AIRES Jan 14 Argentina aims to resume
publishing economic growth data within the first six months of
the year, after President Mauricio Macri's new administration
declared a "statistics emergency," the government statistics
office said on Thursday.
The Indec agency's chief, Jorge Todesca, said he inherited a
statistics body that had been "systematically destroyed" by
former President Cristina Fernandez's leftist governments. He
said 2016 would be a year for returning to the publication of
credible data.
Fernandez's governments have denied manipulating statistics.
Indec's technical director, Graciela Bevacqua, said trade
balance data would be published from February and that the
agency aimed to release gross domestic product within the first
half of the year.
Bevacqua gave no firm timeline for the release of nationwide
inflation numbers.
"To create a consumer price index needs time," Bevacqua told
a news conference.
In the interim, she said consumer price data from the city
of Buenos Aires and San Luis province would be released as a
reference point as both regions used similar and reliable
methodology.
(Reporting by Richard Lough and Hugh Bronstein; Editing by
Chizu Nomiyama and Alan Crosby)
Open all references in tabs: [1 - 3]