BUENOS AIRES.- Price increases moderated for the second consecutive month in February in Argentina, to 13.2%, for an increase of 276% in one year, the statistics institute Indec reported this Tuesday.
The variation in the consumer price index (CPI) was lower than the 20.6% in January and 25.5% in December. In the first two months of the year, prices rose 36.6%, detailed Indec.
This figure is “result of the national government’s work to impose strong fiscal discipline”said the office of Argentine President Javier Milei in a statement.
“March is going to be very complicated because it has a very dense seasonality issue, “But I do not rule out that in April there will be a sharp drop in inflation.”Milei predicted to the LN+ channel.
At the same time, the Argentine economy is registering significant falls in industry, construction and consumption, which fell 13.4% year-on-year and 6.6% compared to January, according to the Focus Market firm.
“Argentina has been in recession for 14 months, but the last four were the most intense. The price increase was very strong and consumption has collapsed,” explained independent economist Federico Glustein.
On Monday, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, met with executives of supermarket chains to pull their ears for “the excessive rise in prices” and claim that “the prices of mass consumption products do not reflect the new reality today. economic”.
On Tuesday, The government announced the opening of imports of basic basket products in order to “improve competition” and support the decline in inflation in this area and in medicines.
Milei holds supermarket chains responsible for distorting with their offers (2×1, 3×2, for example) the prices that appear in the consumer price index.
Due to the drop in demand, “companies find that they cannot sell and, instead of lowering prices, they start with non-linear pricing (…), which indicates that prices are falling but not are manifested in the index,” he stated.
Milei is determined to achieve the goal of “zero (fiscal) deficit” this year committed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by reviving a credit program for 44 billion dollars.
Last week, the IMF reiterated to the Argentine government that this adjustment should not “fall disproportionately” on salaries, pensions and the most vulnerable sectors.
Source: With information from AFP
