Argentine President Javier Milei said in a television interview on Sunday that the country is not in recession but in "a slowdown in the pace of expansion", dismissing official data as unreliable. The national statistics institute reported that activity fell 2.9% in July from June, the steepest monthly drop in six years, while poverty rose to 32.3% and unemployment hit 7.9%, the highest of his term; markets reacted with country risk climbing above 640 points and JP Morgan cutting its 2026 growth forecast to 1.5%. The remarks matter because they signal Milei will not change his economic programme, and opposition lawmakers are also challenging his unsupported claim that 30,000 "terrorists" have been deported since 2025.