The Vice Minister of Economy, Gabriel Rubinstein, assured this Tuesday that despite the “very high” record of 6% that marked the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January, the macroeconomic fundamentals -fiscal, monetary and exchange policies- “they are consistent with a CPI of 4% or less”and he was confident that he could reach a number of around 3% “towards the end of the year”.
In this sense, it awarded part of the price increase in January to the strong rises in three specific items: fruits and vegetables, by “seasonal and climatic factors”; regulated, such as buses, gas, water, tobacco, cable and prepaid medicine; and the impact of tourism services, due to summer vacations.
As detailed, while in January the CPI rose 6.0% compared to December, the “regulated” segment marked an increase of 7.1%, “seasonal” 7.9%, and the core CPI (without regulated or seasonal), rose 5.4%.
“Macroeconomic Fundamentals, basically fiscal, monetary and exchange policies, would be consistent with monthly inflation rates of 4% or less,” Rubistein said in a statement.
In the January record, we have strong increases in: a) fruits and vegetables (x seasonal and climatic factors), b) some regulated items (buses, gas, water, tobacco, cable, prepaid medicine, c) tourism services (for vacation). https://t.co/NiXAyEAeXS
—Gabriel Rubinstein (@GabyRubinstein) February 14, 2023
The official also highlighted the “very important incidence of inertial aspects, linked to the high degree of prevailing indexation” and that, for this, “the price agreements, which register a high degree of compliance, will allow us to continue fighting the high inertial factors present”.
“We continue working from the macro and from the micro, so that inflation drops significantly, and we hope that, towards the end of the year, the CPI will be close to 3%, with inflation for the year hovering around 60%”, concluded the Secretary of Economic Policy.
