MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine inflation for April: official index 1.1%; Congressional index, 2.1%

The Congressional index (2.1%) is closer to that of Buenos Aires City, 2.4%, ruled by opposition presidential hopeful Mauricio Macri

Inflation in Argentina during April reached 2.1% and 29% in the last twelve months according to the latest release from private consultants, an average of which is announced every month as the 'Congressional index' by members from the Lower House Freedom of Expression committee.

 This percentage openly contrasts with the official Argentine government stats office Indec index which reported 1.1% in April, 4.6% in the first four months of 2015 and 15.8% in the last twelve months.

According to the Congress index the items which reflected the steepest variations were education, food and beverage, and clothing.

However it is interesting to note that two Argentine provinces which have their own stats offices or estimates, one of them ruled by the opposition and the other by an ally of president Cristina Fernandez have closer indexes for April than those announced by the official Indec.

In effect, in the City of Buenos Aires, ruled by presidential hopeful Mauricio Macri, inflation clocked 2.4% in April. Likewise in Tierra del Fuego, under a Kirchnerite ally, the local stats office reported 2.3% inflation in April; 8.5% in the first four months of 2015 (January, 2.8%; February, 1.5%; March, 1.7% and April, 2.3%), and 29.1% in the last twelve months.

According to the Tierra del Fuego index, Leisure jumped 4.1% in April; Clothing and footwear, 3.3%; Goods and Services, 2.9%; Housing, water and energy, 2.5%; Transport and communications, 2.2%; House maintenance and appliances 2.1%; Food and beverage, 1.6% and Education, 0.4%.

However in the last four months education with 12,9% was the 'hottest' item. Followed by Goods and services, 11.5%; leisure, 10%; Transport and communications, 9.7%; healthcare 8.9%; clothing and footwear, 8.7%; Water and energy, 7.2% and Food and beverage, 4.7%.

It is interesting to notice that in Tierra del Fuego, in the Food category, fish was the item which most increased in the four months, 11.3%; poultry and dairy goods, 9.6%; fresh vegetables, 6.9%; fresh fruit, 5.3% and meats, 4.6%.

Finally the methods used by Tierra del Fuego to define poverty and indigence, are defined by the Total Basic Basket (CBT) and Basic Food Basket (CBA), respectively.

In the case of CBA, for an only adult in indigence condition to survive he needs 1.408 Pesos per month which is equivalent to 156 and 117 US dollars depending on which exchange rate, official or parallel.

In the case of a family of four (two adults, two children) the CBA has a cost of 4.352 Pesos, which are equivalent to 483 and 362 US dollars, again depending on which exchange rate.

For the CBT, or poverty line, a single adult needs 5.163 Argentine Pesos or the equivalent of 573 and 362 US dollars. In a family of four (two plus two) the sum is 15.953 Argentine Pesos, equivalent to 1.772 and 1.330 US dollars again based on the two different exchange rates.