MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's official inflation: even most faithful misbelieve

Enough is enough. Even the most loyal of Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner officials are rebelling against the latest consumer prices index released on Monday by the Statistics and Census Office, Indec.

The official July retail inflation was 0.4%, less than a fourth of private sector estimates which range between 1.5 and 1.8%.. The whip of the government's group in the Lower House Agustin Rossi went even further and repeated words from the recently named cabinet chief, Sergio Massa, who on taking office said "We must inject credibility to Indec", adding that "you can't have statistics which only generate mistrust in society". "At some point the government must realize we need a real Economy minister and we must cease manipulating data. It's time to come to earth", said Senator Gerardo Morales head of the opposition in the Senate. "What is more baffling is that government insists in making us believe that inflation is 12% annually, as the head of the Home Trade Department Guillermo Moreno tried to convince us, when the rest of the economy is working on the assumption of 25 to 30%", underlined Morales. The barrage also included the head of the Argentine Industrial Union, a strong supporter of government policies, Juan Carlos Lascuarin who questioned the Indec data. "The 0.4% release is not the number, no matter if in some areas there could have been lower variations. The fact is that pay negotiations are above official targets which is an admission of higher inflation", said Mr Lascuarin. From the banking sector the reaction was similar. "Indec has become a daily offense, nobody takes it seriously. It's hilarious; it harms the image of an administration which is trying to achieve reasonable things, but with shortcomings?" said Guillermo Francos, CEO of Banco Provincia, a leading financial institution. Jose de Mendiguren, a member of UIA was also blunt about the latest July release. "costs at my industry have been increasing at 25% annually, that is my true Indec and there's no way I can avoid it".