Wholesale prices -which usually anticipate the trend in consumer prices- it rose 5.1% in March, well below retail inflation that month, which hit 7.7 percent, the highest monthly rate in 20 years, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses reported.
Furthermore, the general level of the domestic wholesale price index (IPIM) recorded a sharp slowdown compared to February, when it increased by 7%.
The monthly change in March was a consequence of the increase 4.9% in domestic products and 6.9% in imported products, according to the statistics agency
By contrast, the general level of the domestic basic wholesale price index (IPIB) increased by 4.1% over the same period. In this case the variation is explained by the increase of 3.8% of “Domestic products” and of 6.9% of “Imported products”.
In an analysis of the data reported by INDEC, the consultancy firm ACM underlined: “if we evaluate the evolution of wholesale prices on an annual basis, we see a slight deceleration compared to the trend that had been observed in recent months: in December 2022 the year-on-year change was 94.8%; in January that number rose to 99.9% to reach 104.3% in February. In particular, in March the change compared to the same month of 2022 was 101.3%. If we compare with retail inflation, in annual terms (104.3% y/y), the latter was 2.4 points higher than wholesale inflation over the same period,” he said.
“Average monthly inflation over both 12 and 6 months has a value of 6%, showing a certain consistency in this comparison. As for the 3-month average, it shows an acceleration since November, when it was 5.5 %, and remains above 6% in the first quarter of the year”, added ACM.
The consultancy firm LCG, indicated in its latest report that “for this year it expects that wholesale prices continue to be one of the drivers of the economy’s nominal rate. Among the factors that will influence an acceleration compared to 2022 are: lower supply of imports due to greater restrictions due to lower exports due to drought, a pattern of multiple exchange rates that is not conducive to coordinating expectations and which could influence prices local food and, finally, a higher rate of devaluation of the official dollar. Therefore, we expect wholesale prices to post a 120% year-on-year increase through December.
Source: Clarin
