MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

CPI officially 7.8% up during May in Argentina

“If you do your shopping daily you know these numbers cannot be real,” a supermarket customer told MercoPress.

Argentina's National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) Wednesday announced that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the month of May of 2023 was 7.8% for a total interannual of 114.2% and a 42.2% in the first five months of the year, it was reported in Buenos Aires.

 April's inflation had been 8.4%, the highest in two decades. The Relevamiento de Expectativas del Mercado (REM) report, published by the Central Bank (BCRA) earlier this week had projected a monthly increase of 9% for May.

The items with the highest increase were housing, water, and utilities (11.9%) due to the increase in electricity and natural gas rates.

Restaurants and hotels (9.3%) and Healthcare (9%) also exceeded the monthly average, particularly in the case of medical insurance.

Meanwhile, Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 5.8% in May. In this category, the increase in Bread and cereals, as well as in Milk, dairy products, and eggs had a significant influence.

However, most Argentines said on social media these figures had been an Indec concoction. “If you do your shopping daily you know these numbers cannot be real,” a supermarket customer told MercoPress.