MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentines' inflation expectations for next 12 months: 34.7%

Argentines expect consumer prices to increase on average 34.7% in the coming twelve months, which is slightly lower than the previous report, according to the latest release from the Finance Research Center belonging to the Torcuato Di Tella Univeristy.

"Inflation expectations for the coming twelve months remain above 30% according to the average reply, while dropping 1.8 percentage points compared to the previous average", indicates the release. However "inflation expectations are virtually double those of June last year". These expectations vary according to the region of Argentina: in the capital Buenos Aires the rate remains high at 36.5%; in the Great (metropolitan) Buenos Aires drops to 33.1% and in the rest of the country climbs to 36.7%. Official statistics show that consumer prices have risen 9.1% in the last twelve months to May, but these numbers are severely questioned by the private sector and the international financial system. Following the melting of the Argentine economy and a strong depreciation of the Peso back in 2002, inflation reached 41%; however the following year it was down to 3.7%; in 2004, 6.1%; 2005, 12.3%; 2006, 9.8% and 8.5% last year. But the official percentages since 2006 are not considered "reliable". The Torcuato Di Tella University report also shows that inflation expectations become more homogeneous among the different socio-economic strata. The report is based on 1.200 phone interviews with a statistical error of 3.5 percentage points. The Argentine Central Bank monthly survey estimates inflation in the next twelve months to be in the range of 9.7%.