THE February inflation was 13.2%, according to the consumer price index (CPI) reported Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC). The year-on-year increase has been achieved 276.2%.
This indicator is known after an increase of 20.6% in January and 25.5% in December was recorded, the highest since March 1990.
The price increase was driven by an increase of 24.7% in the communications category, 21.6% in transport and 20.2% in the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels category.
Meanwhile, alcoholic beverages and tobacco increased by 17.7%; goods and services, 16.6%; and health, 13.6%. Food and alcoholic beverages (11.9%), education (9.9%), and clothing and footwear (7.2%) were below the monthly average.
This morning, a few hours before the publication of the data, President Javier Milei declared that the downward trend that began last month would continue. “It appears to be less than 15, which is a large number,” underlined the president, who however acknowledged that he is “fully aware of what is happening” in the country “but correcting a hundred years is not free.”
The president, in a television interview with the Crónica channel, also predicted that inflation could reach single digits in the coming months: “If we add the increase in advance payments, which are one-off, and tariffs, which are always a one-off, in that context, you will have to subtract almost 5 points from the number, when you see it, you will be talking about single-digit inflation.”
Looking to the coming months, a report from the EcoGo consultancy firm estimates that electricity, gas and public transport (trains and buses) tariffs, together with the price of fuel and prepaid installments, will add up to around 11.5 percentage points per year. inflation for the country. March-May quarter.
Between 18% and 30% of the inflation in the first five months of the year could be explained by the impact of these regulated prices, predicts the entity led by Marina Dal Poggetto and Sebastián Menescaldi.
Last week, the city of Buenos Aires had published its consumer price index in which it had recorded an increase of 14.1%. With this increase, the CABA CPI accumulated an increase of 38.9% in the first two months of the year and an interannual variation of 264.5% (26 percentage points more than the previous month), according to the Department of Statistics and Censuses of Buenos Aires. This jump in interannual variation is explained because in February 2023 inflation in Buenos Aires was 6%.
Imports for basic basket products will be opened
On the same day as the new inflation rate was announced, the Government announced on Tuesday the opening of imports of basic basket products, after the meeting that the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, had in the last hours with supermarkets.
“The decision was made to permanently open imports of some family basket products to make prices more competitive with some tax cuts,” presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said. The spokesperson claimed that “price increases were recognized as exceeding inflation expectations.”
In his usual press conference, Adorni believed that this price increase occurred because the market had assessed a “catastrophic” economic scenario, but stressed that “this did not happen”.
“We understand that the economy is gradually normalizing,” the national official added.
He underlined that with the decision of the National Executive to “definitively” open the importation of some family basket products, an attempt is being made to “make prices more competitive for the benefit of Argentine families and consumers”.
Source: Clarin
