Key Points

• GDP rose 3.3% from a year earlier in Q3 2025, led by investment and exports.
• Under the surface, the economy grew only 0.3% from Q2, and investment fell quarter to quarter.
• A rebound built on imported equipment can modernize fast, but it can also revive the old “dollar constraint.”

Argentina has a headline that travels well: the economy grew 3.3% year on year in the third quarter of 2025. The deeper story is more instructive.

The country is recovering, but the parts of the economy doing the lifting are not the parts most people associate with broad prosperity.

Start with what powered the rebound. Investment rose 10.3% versus a year earlier and exports increased 10.2%. Private consumption grew 5.3% and public consumption 1.7%.

A 3.3% GDP Jump in Q3 2025 Masks An Uneven Argentine Rebound. (Photo Internet reproduction)

Imports, however, surged 23.7% in the same quarter. That mix reads like a classic restart: companies and households buy more, firms import more inputs and equipment, and exports help pay the bill.

Now look at the engine’s rhythm. In seasonally adjusted terms, GDP rose only 0.3% from the second quarter. Exports jumped 6.4%, and consumption edged up (private +0.2%, public +0.5%).

But gross fixed investment fell 6.0% from Q2, and imports fell 2.7%. The recovery is present, yet uneven, and still sensitive to financing and confidence.

INDEC’s investment breakdown reveals why outsiders should pay attention. Construction investment rose 2.3% year on year, but “other constructions” fell 9.4%.

Machinery and equipment climbed 13.8%, and transport equipment jumped 27.7%. The imported component did much of the work: imported machinery and equipment rose 28.9% while the domestic portion fell 6.6%.

Imported transport equipment surged 164.9%, while the domestic portion dropped 9.2%. This is a modernization story, but also a dependence story.

The sector map shows the same split. Finance grew 28.4% and mining 10.3%, while hotels and restaurants rose 7.1% and real estate 3.7%. Manufacturing contracted 2.4%, and fishing fell 20.2%.

For the region, that matters. Argentina’s swings change trade flows, investment appetite, and supply chains. When growth relies heavily on imports, the next question is always the same: where the dollars come from.