BUENOS AIRES –
Inflation in Argentina took a breather in May, with a deviation of 7.8% from the previous month, but it shot up to over 110% year-on-year.
In April, the consumer price index climbed to 8.4% monthly, the highest since 2002. However, inflation in May remains the second highest so far this year at 42.2%.
Compared to May 2022, it reached 114.2%.
“Inflation is a very, very serious problem in Argentina. Did it start with me? Absolutely not,” President Alberto Fernández said in an interview before the figure was released. The Peronist president is spending the last of his four years in office.
“You can say ‘it reached 100%’ or you can say it multiplied by two, while in the rest of the world it multiplied by 6,7,8 or 10%.” You have both analyses. In any case, you cannot live with 100% inflation,” Fernández said.
According to the report published on Wednesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), the lower inflation in May was due to a stabilization in prices in the food and non-alcoholic drinks category (5.8%), which was recorded in the previous months the measurement.
Price increases have been a global concern due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, but in the World Bank classification of countries with the highest food inflation, Argentina takes the top spot.
The largest increase last month was recorded in housing, water, electricity and other fuels (11.9%), the official report said.
Analysts are not optimistic that this downward trend will continue in the coming months, which coincide with the campaign for the October general election.
