BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's economic activity index slumped 1.2 percent in August compared with the same month a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, underscoring a slowdown in Latin America's third-largest economy.
The median forecast in a Reuters poll of seven economists had been for a fall of 0.5 percent in the monthly EMAE economic activity index, which is a close proxy for gross domestic product.
Activity fell 0.9 percent on the month in August, the data from the INDEC statistics agency showed.
Argentina said last month its economy pulled out of recession in the second quarter, but this raised doubts over the reliability of data as the government battles to ease the impact of its sovereign debt default.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by James Dalgleish)