Despite the austerity policies that have been implemented by the government of President Mauricio Macri, Argentina will see a bigger than expected recession this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a new report. The economy is set to decline 1% this year, a drop that is 0.3 percentage points larger than the previous forecast that the IMF had released in October.
Consumer prices rose 6.5% in December in the Argentine province of San Luis, one of the indexes the new leaders of the country's INDEC statistics bureau had said could be used as a proxy for national inflation figures — amounting to a cumulative 31.6% increase in 2015.
Argentina's new finance minister said on Wednesday it was imperative to resolve the country's legal dispute with U.S. creditors over unpaid debt because financing of the country's fiscal deficit this year may depend on progress on the issue.
September inflation in Argentina was 1,92% and reached 25.91% in the last twelve months according to the monthly report from opposition members of Congress, which is based on the average of the country's leading private consultants. Later this week the official Indec rate is expected to be announced, systematically lower than that of the so called Congress index.
According to Argentina's stats office Indec, consumer prices during the month of August climbed 1.2% over July, 9.4% in the eight months and 14.7% in the last twelve months. These numbers however are quite different from private consultants' estimates and the City of Buenos Aires stats office: 2.17% and 1.8% inflation for August, respectively.
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.
Argentine inflation in March reached 2.12% over February accumulating 29.8% in the last twelve months according to the average of private consultants, which every month is released by opposition members in Congress. This is one percentage point higher than the official March rate announced by the Argentine government's discredited stats office, Indec, 1.3%.
Argentina is heading towards social outbreak due to soaring inflation, head of the anti-government CGT Azul y Blanca labor confederation Luis Barrionuevo said in statements that have already sparked controversy.
Argentine inflation rose 1.4% during July leaving consumer prices 16.7% higher than at the beginning of the year, official data showed on Friday. The July index was slightly higher than the 1.3% of June and confirms Argentina is experiencing one of the highest inflation rates in the world and only second to Venezuela in Latin America.
June inflation in Argentina reached 1.3%, accumulating 15% in the first six months of the year, according to a release from the country’s stats office Indec. The release also revealed the wholesale prices had increased 1.5% in June, while locally-made products saw rises of 1.5%.