MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina's July inflation falls to 2%, confirming sliding tendency
Argentina's inflation rate eased to 2% in July, less than half of what it was two months before when the government began reporting consumer price data after revamping the country's troubled statistics office. The July figure was released on Friday by the new Indec data agency. A month earlier it reported 3.1% inflation for June and 4.2% for May when it issued its first consumer price report since President Mauricio Macri took office in December. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesOf course the runaway RG living in Canada, posting multi-personas, espousing the virtues of the Kirchner regime will not believe un-manipulated data. He will not believe the big businesses that are starting to hire, nor nor in a couple months when they announce increase in DFI, just like he probably does not believe the impact on agra sales from reduced taxes.
Aug 13th, 2016 - 12:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I guess it's easy to pick and choose what and what not to believe......6,500 miles away.
Like all good partisans, he is just playing the “game”. You were very good at it for the last few years before this one. What happened?
Aug 13th, 2016 - 12:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Everyone here predicted that Macri would get an “empty” Central Bank? Yet the money was there, anyone apologized to CFK for accusing here of lying about the Central Bank Figures?
And where is your evidence “big business” is hiring?
I would say to the NorthAmericans and European/Brits, mind your own business. Watched the news lately? Your countries have a “few” problems!
Patrollio,
Aug 13th, 2016 - 01:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What do you think of these “New Indec” figures? Given that Argentines are liars, do you believe these new inflation calculations are accurate? They are probably lying too, right? Just like CFK did.
@2. “I would say to the NorthAmericans and European/Brits, mind your own business.” I suggest you take your own advice. As far as we Brits are concerned, argieland poses a clear and present threat to OUR Falkland Islands. So what happens down there IS our business. How's the investigation into CFK fraud going? Anybody figured out how she had Nisman murdered yet? Lots of Kirchnerites still around, right? Will it be shown that Macri is complicit?
Aug 13th, 2016 - 01:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@3
Aug 13th, 2016 - 01:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You do know that the US Treasury also fudges numbers every month right? Has been doing it for many years. Depending on the government, they fudge inflation, GDP, and job figures to make them look better or less worse. Then they “quietly” massively adjust them downwards a month or two later in a so-called “revision” (code word for “the first figure was bwllsh!t, here is a somewhat less deceitful one”).
So I don't know what to make of INDEC figures, if most indices line up with each other, then I guess that would indicate most are probably right.
@4
I'm unbothered about the Falkland Islands as long as their ships are nowhere near binocular sight of our coast.
As if you needed more reasons why foreigners need not attempt an investment in Argentina (Bloomberg is usually full of shite, but can occasionally be so convincingly overwhelmed as to take note of little pieces of the patently obvious):
Aug 13th, 2016 - 02:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“The New and Improved Argentina Is Still a Tricky Place to Invest”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-04/the-new-and-improved-argentina-is-still-a-tricky-place-to-invest
Contextual definition of “tricky” -- overly complicated, extremely risky, deliberately Byzantine, conspicuously antagonistic, calculated to delay, intentionally constructed to offend and reject foreign investment only a trifle less than was the practice under the Kukkarachas.
Oh, and don't forget that the annualised inflation rate here is still going to be well over 40 percent for this year.
Supposedly this wasn't going to happen..... oh well!
Aug 13th, 2016 - 04:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Seems Macri's policies are starting to have an effect. Now savings rates can start to climb and people can start to rebuild their personal wealth.
According to the Argentine congressional Índice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC Congreso) , the interannual inflation rate is shown as 46 percent over the past 12 months.
Aug 13th, 2016 - 07:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you believe you're going to see marvelous improvements here within your lifetime, I have some tierra pantanosa in Tierra del Fuego I'd like to sell to you.
#1 Captain Poppy
Aug 14th, 2016 - 03:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0“Of course the runaway RG living in Canada...will not believe un-manipulated data.”
Excellent. Captain has signaled the start of un-manipulated data, courtesy of the Macri administration.
And wouldn't it be nice if inflation in Argentine were finally tamed and the economy exhibited signs of improvement?
Unfortunately, as in any other country, inflation is but one indicator.
And most Argentine numbers are not encouraging, to say it mildly.
Activity fell 3.8 per cent in June.
Consumption went down 5 per cent in July.
Investments (a key indicator for Macri) plummeted 10.7 per cent in June.
Prices is the only indicator going up: 41.6 per cent annually, counting July.
For example, domestic sales of cement (and indicator of trust) went down 27,6 per cent in April, in relation to the same month in the previous year.
As a result, the Asociación de Fábricas de Cemento Portland (AFCP) estimates a reduction in 2016 much higher than expected: 10,5 million tonnes, or 13,4 per cent less than 2015.
And as I said before, Macri's economic policies smack of past experiments that left the country in ever worse conditions.
Argentines have seen the movie before and know the end.
@9
Aug 14th, 2016 - 05:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0We also know the end of policies where you just print money to cover deficits and subsidies. For decades Argentina has tried this one, and is now poorer than several nations in Asia and Middle East that a half century ago were dirt poor.
How about a novel idea, for both Peronists who want to spend and print, and neo-liberals that want to slash and issue debt: how about WE BALANCE THE BUDGET EVERY YEAR? It's very simple, tell the population: “a country is like a home budget: you can't spend more than what you make and expect to end in a good place in a year or two”. I think most people WILL understand that, even if it is painful at first.
But eventually, you get used to living within that budget, and then we are FREE from foreigners for EVER, and free from local banks. Then as the economy grows, you can increase your spending as revenues grow with the GDP.
We should try it sometime... you would be surprised how that simple rule is more powerful than all the fiscal tricks, and banking theories out there to somehow prevent overspending to end up in debt and poverty for all.
@10 “.... and then we are FREE from foreigners for EVER,...”
Aug 14th, 2016 - 03:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The wet dream of every peroncho, forgetting all the while that it was the British that (for a few years) made Argentina economically successful, then the Americans, and it is only the technology and investment of foreigners that now lets Argentina momentarily keep its head above the swirling waters of the economic toilet bowl.
So long as Argentina is run by Argentines, and carries around the heavy Sisyphean baggage of xenophobic peroncho arrogance, sloth, and corruption, with its Stone Age rock-throwing mentality and fratricidal cult of self-mutilation, it will only continue on its chosen path of growing poverty, unproductive indebtedness, implosion, and entropy.
Mr. Troll;
Aug 14th, 2016 - 03:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“How about a novel idea, for both Peronists who want to spend and print, and neo-liberals that want to slash and issue debt: how about WE BALANCE THE BUDGET EVERY YEAR? It's very simple, tell the population: “a country is like a home budget: you can't spend more than what you make and expect to end in a good place in a year or two”. I think most people WILL understand that, even if it is painful at first.”
I think you actually are a very astute economist compared to ideologues, Mr. Think, and Mr. Massot.
Three questions:
1) Why do some posters call you Nostrils?
2) Do you think that the Peronists and the K People will understand your idea of a balanced budget of living within your means and the cutbacks required to get there?
“. I think most people WILL understand that, even if it is painful at first”
3) What do you think the Macri government is doing now?
Cutbacks and reducing costs and new debt, and paying old debt ?
Most politicians in any country do not have the fortitude to hold the line on spending, so I doubt we will see a balanced budget. I just wish there were politicians that at least would preach the praises of this in very simple terms, because it is really very simple. And if explained straightforward most people can accept it, and at least disarm some of the knee-jerk reactions of cutting spending.
Aug 14th, 2016 - 03:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Ultimately the problem is governments always cut back in times of recession, when they should cut back spending when the economy grows. Then when the economy shrinks you hold cutbacks and even increase spending if you have surplus room to act as a counter-cyclical lever.
I don't know what Macri is doing to be honest, he settled the debt issue but since then I have not heard much. I personally hope they don't tap international markets even if the can. We lived without borrowing for almost 20 years, we can keep doing it.
I'm not against raising electricity prices, people waste too much of it anyway. I am against subsidizing the oil companies. That should end immediately.
@13 “We lived without borrowing for almost 20 years, we can keep doing it. ”
Aug 14th, 2016 - 07:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0No, Argentina did not live without borrowing for “almost 20 years.”
In 2001 alone, Argentina took out two loans from the IMF: one for $15 billion and the other a short time later - $8 billion for a bail-out loan.
Argentina was living on stolen assets for many years subsequent to 2002, assets stolen from both domestic and foreign sources. The country even stole the pension funds of its own residents. When Argentina doesn't borrow, it simply steals.
And when that money ran out, Argentina had to borrow more from foreign sources.
CFK tried to convince the populacho that receiving “foreign credits” and “dollar equivalent swap lines” were not really “borrowing” -- and some evidently believed that. But Argentina received billions in loans by any other name from China and Venezuela, among other foreign sources.
In 2014 alone, the China Development Bank and the China Export-Import Bank loaned more than $29 billion to Argentina. Between 2005 and 2007, Argentina received loans of more than $4 billion from Venezuela. At appropriately high interest rates, of course, - more than double the interest rates that countries like Chile pay for similar debt.
“....without borrowing for almost 20 years...” No, but peronism preaches that, and many here believe it. But as with so much of peronismo, there is no substance to it.
Mr Troll,
Aug 14th, 2016 - 09:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You say that Argentina has not borrowed money for 20 years.
Mr Llazo says,
“ In 2014 alone, the China Development Bank and the China Export-Import Bank loaned more than $29 billion to Argentina. Between 2005 and 2007, Argentina received loans of more than $4 billion from Venezuela. At appropriately high interest rates, of course, - more than double the interest rates that countries like Chile pay for similar debt. ”
Please, which statement is the truth? It is so hard to tell on here.
Does Mr. Llazo live in Argentina? Do you as well?
“I'm not against raising electricity prices, people waste too much of it anyway.”
You seem to be a very enlightened and liberal thinker.
I look forward to your future commentary.
Why do some call you Nostrils when that is obviously not your name?
Is it something to do with cocaine?
I suggest Marti to stop wasting time writing posts about Argentina, a country that, according to him, is hopeless.
Aug 15th, 2016 - 01:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0Like a broken record, Marti almost daily remind us that Argentina will continue to be a lost country as long as it's run by Argentines.
He also claims that ”it was the British that (for a few years) made Argentina economically successful, then the Americans...”
However, the Argentine Constitution stipulates that an Argentine president must be born in Argentina. So Marti's dream of seeing Argentina governed by others is not feasible.
What's then the point for Marti to keep posting extensively about a country he so thoroughly despises? He could probably make a better use of his time writing about countries he admires, such as the U.K and the U.S.A.
@15
Aug 15th, 2016 - 01:56 am - Link - Report abuse 02014 numbers correction: In 2014 Argentina received loans from China for US$7.5 billion: US$4.7 billion for dam construction, and 2.1 billion for an Argentine railway project. The US$21 billion figure was Chinese loans for that year for all of Latin America.
Between 2005 and 2014, Argentina received 8 loans from China, for a total value of US$15.3 billion. This differs considerably from Mr Troll's assertion that Argentina has gone for almost 20 years without loans from foreign countries.
Source: Gallagher, Kevin P. and Margaret Myers (2014) “China-Latin America Finance Database,” Washington: Inter-American Dialogue.
Likewise, the myth that the Kirchners relieved Argentina of debt during their reign is not just Peronistically false but laughable: the debt under the Kirchners actually increased, from U$ 178 billion in 2003 to US$ 250 billion in 2014.
#17 Marti
Aug 15th, 2016 - 02:32 am - Link - Report abuse 0And what do you care?
You have written here ad nauseam that Argentina is doomed as long as it's governed by Argentines--something that is not about to change.
You have written the only good economic times in Argentina were provided by the U.K and the U.S.
If Argentina is lost by any accounts: Why do you waste so much of your valuable time on us, poor and doomed Argentines?
Uh oh, now Mr Massot thinks others with differing opinions from him, should not comment on Argentina.
Aug 15th, 2016 - 03:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0Is Mr. Massot in any better position to comment from Canada?
At least Mr. Llazo seems to be on the ground in SA.
#19 Kanye
Aug 15th, 2016 - 03:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0If you are genuinely interested in Argentina's improvement, you should read again what the poster identified as Marti Llazo has been consistently writing about Argentina.
If you do, you will realize that this individual is vowing on Argentina's demise--he has stated time and again that the country will never be fine when governed by Argentines.
To me, it's not a matter of where you live. What counts is, are you genuinely interested is searching for Argentina's best way forward?
If you are, to me there is a point in debating different ideas. On the other hand, if you support the idea that all Argentines are crooks, lazy people and the like, then I am not interested.
That's where I draw the line. Do you?
Mr. Massot,
Aug 15th, 2016 - 04:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You are the one who wishes to deny others from commenting, based on your discretion.
I am not in lockstep with Mr. Llazo however, he does a remarkable job of identifying the incompetence of the previous K government and its tactics of corruption and political dirty tricks.
Whether you agree with that or not, there is no denying that under the K governance, the Argentine economy was spiralling down to complete economic collapse.
Yet, you do your best to discredit the new government that has addressed the debt problem and opened the country up to investment, at far more favourable terms than the Evita K deals with China and Venezuela.
Government inefficiency and waste has been cut back, and INDEC has more credibility.
The energy sector might actually cover its own costs now, which are still relatively low for the consumer, agricultural exports have increased now that the tariffs are lower, manufacturing will benefit from a better investment climate.
REAL economic growth is coming, instead of the protracted CFK decline.
And you wish to return to the failed model of the K kleptocracy.
Where do you draw the line defending those crooks?
#21 Kanye
Aug 15th, 2016 - 07:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Marti Llazo, who you believe helps you and the Macri government by doing “a remarkable job of identifying the incompetence of the previous K government” will abandon your boat as soon as Macri becomes unpalatable, because of his underlying belief that Argentines cannot govern themselves.
Marti Llazo will continue to post, as I have no power to bar him. However, I will keep pointing to his contempt for the whole Argentina, which will of course include the Macri administration.
Now, about your claims that “REAL economic growth is coming:” They are utter nonsense.
Sad reality, my friend, is the Argentine economy is in free fall, and July indicators are the worse of all since January. Imports are beginning to impact the domestic economy, consumption goes down, industrial activity experiences its worst fall in seven years, real wages lose power, unemployment is up, in a word no demand component forecasts positive changes going forward.
Only 20 per cent of Argetines tell pollsters they are doing well--a large majority say they are worse off. As a result, support for the Macri administration is also rapidely eroding.
You can only blame a previous administration for so long, and the end of that period is coming up fast.
I am not “doing my best to discredit the new government.” The Macri administration is doing a pretty good job at it--without my help.
So says the all-seeing sage and doom-sayer of the Great White North.
Aug 15th, 2016 - 07:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Do you believe that Evita K and the Scioli puppet were to be the saviours of the People with their politics of More of the Same?
All the indices were in freefall in Nov 2015, with a Poverty Rate of 28.7% and growing.
A far cry from Evita K's claim that it was 5%, less than Germany's.
Evita K - “what, me worry?”
#23 Kanye
Aug 15th, 2016 - 08:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Again, currently President Mauricio Macri is in charge.
He has been for the last eight months.
He promised to make things better, “leaving in place all the good that had been done,” and improving the bad.
So Macri and helpers like yourself may keep talking about how bad the previous government was.
Electors decided last year they wanted change--and voted Cambiemos into power.
They did not mean Cambiemos meant change for the worse.
They gave new president Macri a honeymoon--but Macri is rapidly exhausting his honeymoon days.
Oh. And for future reference, the last president's name was Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Evita Perón died a few decades ago, although she is still well remembered by many. You try to be smart, but look silly instead.
Mr Massot,
Aug 15th, 2016 - 11:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You sound offended.
CFK modelled herself (at least, to the people) after Evita Peron, champion of the poor.
She took it to the extent of adopting Evita imagery and staging events.
Ironic that she created more and more poor every year.
And lo and behold, the electors DID want a change - they voted out the duplicitous harpy, her puppet Scioli, and her inept Finance Minister, the Pet Boy, Kiciloff.
She'll be remembered for decades, also.
In 8 months Macri fired many of the 3.5m freeloaders in gov. jobs.
Investors who wouldn't touch Argentina while Evita K was in power.
“Nationalising” profitable companies, loading up taxes on those still in private hands, seizing private pension funds, and writing down bond values by 70%, and finally another Default - yeah, that's the K legacy.
It takes more than 8 months to reverse the effects of those policies.
For some reason, you refuse to see that.
Here's a promise you should remember,
“...Fernandez was able to claim she would be leaving a country ”free of debt.“”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-04/here-s-the-real-legacy-of-the-kirchners-in-argentina
#25 Kanye
Aug 16th, 2016 - 01:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0No offense. I don't call the president “Mauri” or “Mugricio” either.
You may or may not be aware that the Macri administration is fueling the old “trickle down effect” myth that purports that the rich must first get richer for some of their wealth to begin spilling out and reaching the poor.
According to the myth, the poor must suffer and toil in order to reap the reward later--which of course never happens. Once the rich get richer they keep their wealth for themselves--the poor be damned.
And again, it's not a matter of asking Macri to “reverse the effects” of whatever bad Kirchnerism policies may be and have a bonanza in six months. Just by stopping the economic deterioration Macri would get recognition from many.
Unfortunately, the government's plan so far seems to be, grab as much as possible in the least possible time for the corporate friends, and the hell with the rest.
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