INDEC is preparing the launch of a new consumer price index (CPI), a project its director, Marcos Lavagna, is working on. for more than three years and that it would have the technical advice of the Monetary Fund. ““We are in the final phase”official sources assure.
The idea is update consumer baskets based on the latest national household expenditure survey (ENGHo), which dates back to the 2017-2018 period and will replace the one currently powered by the CPI with data from 2004-2005. Lavagna launched the project in 2020, under the direction of Alberto Fernández.
In his original plan, the index had to be ready by mid-2022, but its launch has been postponed. The official praised by Javier Milei claims that the index measuring inflation reflects changes in the consumption habits of families that vary over time.
The new basket seeks to reflect changes in consumption of goods and services in household spendingnew marketing channels (companies, minimarkets, supermarkets, shopping centres), new forms of price collection and leverage new data sources and improvements in information capture systems.
“We are testing the programming systems, the important thing is to update consumer baskets based on the latest expenditure survey”, explain the official sources.
The intention is for the renewed CPI to be active this year and official dispatches assure that it will be “very transparent”. The clarification aims to clarify the ghosts that occasionally reappear after the intervention of the INDEC against the gangs by the former Minister of Commerce, Guillermo Moreno, in 2007.
The organization was also in the eye of the storm for having changed the calculation of the gross domestic product (GDP) in order to avoid paying interest on the debt issued in 2005. A London court, a few weeks ago, condemned Argentina to pay 337 million dollars if it wants to continue with the experimentation of “PBI coupon” securities.
The new changes – put forward by Infobae – advance amid the difficulties of continuing to reduce inflation. After the record of 25.5% in December and 20.6% in January, the index fell to 13.2% in February, a decline favored by the decline in consumption, the strong recession and the liquefaction of the peso.
In the last 12 months the increase was 276%. Although these levels are the highest since the hyperinflation of 1990, the latest data, for the second time, were lower than market expectations, in a climate of stability also favored by the fall of financial dollars and an official dollar rising by 2% monthly.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo last week predicted “single digit” inflation for the middle of the year. But the president recognizes that March will be more “complicated”. “You might notice a decrease in the deceleration process, but the amount of money is not increasing yet,” Milei acknowledged in an interview with LN+.
Amid these fears, Caputo lashed out at food producers for “excessive” shelf increases and ordered a sort of “opening of imports” aimed at generating more competition in food, hygiene and hygiene products. cleaning and in medicines.
The Secretary of Commerce made official this Monday the suspension of taxes (VAT and profits) for 120 days for 3,000 products in the basic basket. And last week, the Central Bank authorized the reduction of the period to access official dollars to 30 days, which means that the group will open starting from April 15th.
Source: Clarin
