Argentines' expectations for future inflation held steady in June, marking the fourth consecutive month in which people have expected annual inflation to total 30%.
The current strict measures to counter the purchase of US dollars and by extension capital flight, implemented by Argentina apparently have a calendar date full of political significance: August 3 when the Boden 2012 fully matures.
A closely watched gauge of Argentina consumer confidence rose for the first time in five months in May, according to a report published this week by Torcuato di Tella University, UTDT.
Argentina managed a first point in the diplomatic dispute with Spain over the nationalization of YPF when the IMF decided to call the conflict a “bilateral affair” and “a decision of a sovereign nation”.
Argentine inflation reached 0.7% in February against the previous month, and accumulated a 1.7% increase in 2012 so far, according to the Indec national statistics bureau. This is less than half the index from the private agencies and released as the •Congress index”, which in February marked 1.65% and
February inflation in Argentina according to an average of private agencies which is released monthly by members of the Congressional opposition was 1.65%, climbing to 22.75% in the last twelve months. The official Indec inflation is scheduled to be released next March 13.
Argentina must solve the controversy over the measurement of inflation which has significant economic and political costs, said Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla the Inter American Development Bank, IADB, director for Argentina and Haiti.
History has left Argentines with more than their share of economic trauma. Having twice suffered destructive bouts of hyperinflation in the late 1980s, they are sensitive to rising prices. When they spot inflation their instinct is to dump the peso and buy dollars.
The Argentine economy expanded 8.8% in 2011 according to the controversial National Statistics office, Indec, while the Central bank reported that 21.5 billion dollars fled from the country last year, which is 88% higher than in 2010.
Argentina’s consumer prices inflation reached 0.9% in January, accumulating 9.7% in the last twelve months according to the official Indec national statistics bureau. The index is less than half the private estimate or “Congress index”, 1.9%.