Inflation was 6% in January and has reached 98.8% over the past 12 months

Inflation last January, the first measure of 2023, was 6%, according to the consumer price index (CPI) released on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec). Thus, the cumulative figure for the last twelve months reached 98.8%.

The item that has increased the most is “Leisure and culture” with an increase of 9%. In this order, the two segments linked to regulated tariffs also increased strongly: “Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels” and “Communications” recorded an increase of 8% in both cases.

The “Food and non-alcoholic beverages” category recorded an increase of 6.8%, exceeding average inflation.

Thus, the index for the first month of the year was 0.9 percentage points above the monthly percentages recorded by INDEC in December (5.1%) of last year. In November, it was 4.9%. In its search to contain the evolution of the inflationary index, the government relaunched in February the program of fair prices which included nearly 50,000 products of 15 different articles with an increase trajectory of 3.2% per month until to June 30.

Despite the fact that the government ensures that the agreement with companies and supermarkets is respected, many articles and marketing channels – small supermarkets, self-service stores, warehouses – are not reached by the way of the increases monthly presets.

The explanation is that inflation is an average where services, fresh products – excluding agreements – and all items that are sold outside the big chains also have an impact. Although there have been unsuccessful attempts with fruit and vegetable baskets, official sources acknowledge that due to the way they are sold, they do not allow negotiations and checks as in the case of the companies of Big consumption.

The new deal for seven cuts of meat is expected to succeed in lowering the price development of this item for February data. Unlike previous deals, this is a broader deal with more tonnes of meat available for sale at agreed prices.

The year’s first edition of the Central Bank’s Market Expectations Survey (REM), which measures the expectations of economic consultants, showed that the market expects inflation of 97.6% for 2023 , up 0.9 percentage points from the previous month’s survey.

The mechanism announced yesterday will be in effect from Friday until March 31. After that date, the cuts will have a pattern of increases of 3.2% per month until June 30. “Based on the agreement, the price at which supermarkets sold the cuts was lowered by an average of 35%,” authorities said.

According to official data, the following prices per kilo can be obtained from this Friday, February 17: empty, $1,351; bedroom, $1,310; skirt, $675; roast cover, $1,035; buttock, $1,375; and pallet, 1,113 pesos.

“The drought increased the volume of slaughter and kept prices below inflation, but the increase started to be felt in January. That’s why we tackle the problems by looking at the big challenge: increasing the number of bellies and production. But in the short term, we have to take care of the pocket of the Argentines”, declared yesterday the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa.

In addition, the refund of purchases with bank and non-bank debit cards of 10% of the total purchase has been announced, which will be credited in 48 hours with a refund limit of $2,000 per calendar month, which is equivalent to monthly purchases of $20,000 in small butcher shops.

The measure is aimed at companies registered with the AFIP on the date of entry into force of the program. Includes butchers, convenience stores and businesses registered for VAT as MiPyme, but not hypermarkets and supermarket chains.

As part of the announcement, the benefits for butchers and breeders were also communicated.

Continue reading: