Argentine private agencies July inflation 1.76% and 24.13% in twelve months

Friday, August 10th 2012 - 07:21 UTC

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Opposition lawmakers announcing the July inflation

Argentine opposition lawmakers presented on Thursday July’s inflation index based in the analysis of nine private agencies, which showed a 1.76% increase against the previous month and doubles the official index from the government of President Cristina Fernandez.

In the first six months of the year, the so called congressional index has the following readings: Jan, 1.9%; Feb, 1.65%; March, 2.31%; April, 2.16%; May, 1.71%; June, 1.68% and July, 1.76%.

These numbers are more than double the official CPI index calculated by INDEC: Jan, 0.9%; Feb, 0.7%; March, 0.9%; April, 0.8%; May, 0.8% and June, 0.7%.

According to the indexes of different private agencies, the inflation has accumulated 24.13% between July 2011 and July 2012.

Legislators Eduardo Amadeo (Peronist Front), Juan Pedri Tunessi (Radical Party), Paula Bertol and Pablo Tonelli (PRO), and Patricia Bullrich (Unión por Todos) presented the “Congress Index” during a press conference in the Argentine congress building.

Bullrich underlined the importance of the release of the inflation data elaborated by private consultants because it has become “an institution, the Congress index on inflation is a national reference”.

Lawmaker Tunessi highlighted that the inflation index registered in July “the highest volume in the last 14 months” and Bullrich assured that “we are stranded and the raise of the salary is a big lie, such as the Indec”.

“Things are not improving, rather the opposite”, said Tunessi pointing out that inflation keeps increasing “in a context of strong fall in the economic activity”.

Lawmaker Tonelli holding up a 100 Pesos bill said that compared to 2007, that same bill “nowadays has a purchasing power of 33.61 Pesos”, according to studies from the private economic consultants.

The members of the congressional freedom of expression commission make theirs an average of the private agencies because these face heavy fines if they don’t reveal their methodology to estimate the monthly hike in prices.

Since the measure was enforced several agencies were fined so they ceased to make them public, but an average of several of them is announced every month by opposition members from the congressional freedom of expression commission.

Categories: Economy, Politics, Argentina.

Tags: Argentina, Argentine inflation, Congress inflation index, Indec, Patricia Bullrich.

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ernest shackleton
Only 24%..? Exactly a year ago I encouraged my girlfriend to switch her cable TV package to a then 10% dearer one (DirecTV) because they offered BBC, CNN, etc. It has gone from 170 264 pesos (55% increase) and expecting another increase anytime. I think Argentina is headed for hyper-inflation again and yet another peso collapse. What will they name the new currency? May I suggest the Malvina? (doesn't that mean “bad wine”?)
Aug 10th, 2012 - 07:55 am 0
British_Kirchnerist
I don't trust these private agencies; look at the investigation into S&P. And don't get me started on these right wingers in Congress...
Aug 10th, 2012 - 11:15 am 0
Welsh Wizard
@2

Couldn't agree more. All inflation agencies have been completely discredited but these guys aren't the bad guys, no, not at all. The people who really stink in this situation are all of the shops owners (be they large or small) who lie about the prices in their shops and, when the random spot checks are asked to verify prices for inflation, they run around the shop floor (always just one step ahead) changing the price of every single item in the shop to reflect prices that are in-line with 24% inflation rather than the real 9.9% inflation rate. They then go back and change all these prices, once the inspector has left, to reflect the real 9.9% rate. It angers me so much as there is nothing more annoying than going into a shop half way through this process to find that some of the stuff you've picked up has been priced at the “lie” rate and others at the real rate.

I also have a massive beef with the vast majority of the country as they know that this is a very wide spread endemic of price-fixing as they can see shop keepers running around continually fixing the prices just before an inflation inspectors come in. I am just amazed that this has never been reported but I suspect that this is because 99% of the population are so scared of the corporates/church/inflation agencies or are all the love children of Macri and they just do not want it reported. This is a massive cover-up, I only hope that common sense will prevail and everyone will believe whatever the government says regarding inflation from now on, even if all the evidence points to a completely different set of facts.
Aug 10th, 2012 - 11:57 am 0

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