Buenos Aires, February 12 (NA) – Economist Juan Carlos de Pablo pointed to the persistence of price increases above 2% monthly and urged authorities to focus on this 'problem,' asserting that inflation 'is bothersome but not desperate.' In analyzing the inflationary process, the economist highlighted that prices in the country continue to rise despite a nominal exchange rate that remains stable or even tends to decline. Although he described the episode as a 'lamentable communication error,' he assured that from a decision-making standpoint, it was irrelevant for economic actors. In this regard, he exemplified that 'it did not affect the price of peso-denominated bonds, adjusted by the official inflation rate estimate,' emphasizing that 'with their actions, bondholders removed any shroud of doubt from the event.' Thus, beyond the statistical controversy, de Pablo asked us to 'put the cart before the horse,' stating that 'the problem is the inflation rate, which since late 2024, with one exception, has never been below 2% monthly.' In this scenario, he argued that 'the inflation rate is bothersome, but not as desperate as during a bank or currency run,' warning that 'enough months have passed for the issue to deserve to be put on the table.' In this sense, he indicated that 'analysis begins by formulating relevant questions. Is inflation an exclusive or mainly monetary phenomenon? What is the relevant monetary aggregate in Argentina in 2026?' For the economist, in this situation, 'it is about putting knowledge at the service of action,' urging authorities to set aside 'grandiloquence' and get a 'specific diagnosis to act accordingly.' In this sense, he challenged both 'devaluomaniacs' and 'devaluophobics' to explain this phenomenon. In an opinion column for the newspaper La Nación, de Pablo sought to shift the focus of the recent discussion, which was centered on the postponement of the modification of the inflation measurement, to pinpoint the analysis on the rise in price variation that has been evident for several months. In his view, the departure of Marco Lavagna and the controversy over the change in the IPC weights are 'history' that did not affect real decision-making, while the real challenge lies in an inflation that seems to be stuck on a step from which it cannot descend. On this aspect, de Pablo downplayed the institutional crisis that INDEC went through last week.
