MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina's August inflation set at 2.5% by Indec

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco went up only 2%

Argentina's Consumer Price Index (CPI-Cost of Living) rose 2.5% during August and fell below 3% in July, according to a report from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) released Tuesday.

It was the lowest increase since August 2020s 2.7%, and it has also maintained a downward trend for five consecutive months, with the decrease in seasonal and regulated prices.

With August's data, inflation in the first eight months of the year reached 32.3% and 51.4% YoY.

This slowdown was caused by a sharp drop in Food and Beverages, which went from increasing 3.4% in July to 1.5% in August, while vegetables also went down and meat remained stable.

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco went from a rise of 3.1% in July to 2% in August.

Housing and basic services fell from 2.9% to 1.1%; restaurants and hotels from 4.8% to 2.9%, and Communications showed a 0.6% contraction.

Meanwhile, a study by the privately-run Universidad Torcuato Di Tella (UTDT) has projected an inflationary index of 48% for the next twelve months.

The UTDT's Finance Research Center made a distinction: inflation will be 48% for the general population but 50% for middle-class households. It was also measured around 50% for the City of Buenos Aires but only 47.6% in some provinces.

The new projection shows a 1.1% decrease compared to July's 49.1% forecast.

Based on Indec data, the UTDT has come up with a YoY projection of 51.8%.