MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentines expect inflation to reach 33.5% in the next twelve months

CIF head Sandleris: expectations varied from region to region

Argentines expect inflation to reach 33.5% in the next twelve months, according to the latest report from the Finance Research Centre, CIF, which belongs to the Torcuato Di Tella University. This is half a percentage point higher than the previous release.

The CIF report is based on regular opinion polls in three different areas of Argentina: Buenos Aires City; Great Buenos Aires and the rest of the country.

The inflation expectations public opinion poll for CIF was elaborated by Poliarquía on the basis of 1.215 interviews in the whole country. Poliarquía is considered one of the most serious and reliable pollsters in Argentina.

“Inflation expectations for the next twelve months showed heterogeneous results in the three regions” said Guido Sandleris, CIF director. In the federal capital “expectations dropped 1.9 percentage points; in the Great Buenos Aires it increased 1.3 percentage points and in the rest of the country they remained unchanged”.

According to Argentina’s controversial stats office, Indec, inflation in the last twelve months was 10.8%, while the average from the private agencies which is released as the Congressional index by the Lower House Freedom of Expression Committee, consumer prices in Argentina over the last twelve months soared above 25%.

The so called Congressional index is taken as a reference by labour unions, courts and industry and trade organizations.

The stats from Indec, supported by the government of President Cristina Fernandez are considered to be manipulated and highly discredited both domestically and overseas. Last month the IMF issued a “censure declaration” against Argentina expressing deep concern about the quality and reliability of the country’s GDP and inflation official stats.