According to an explanation from Chequeado, the new basket (based on the 2017-2018 survey) was supposed to incorporate: Streaming platforms (music and video-on-demand services). Capsule coffee, a consumption that became mass-market in the last decade. Additionally, the weight of public services is unrealistic: with the old basket, electricity, gas, and water represent 9.4% of the index, but with the update, they should jump to 14.5%, much better reflecting the impact of current tariff hikes. The official explanation From INDEC explained to Chequeado that these subcategories are kept in the classifier "for methodological reasons and to maintain historical comparability". However, due to the impossibility of finding prices for a fax or a sulky in any neighborhood store, surveyors record "substitute goods and services" to fill these empty slots, a necessary technical maneuver until the statistics catch up with reality. Also, blank CDs and DVDs and recording media such as floppy disks appear. Nostalgic communication: In the era of WhatsApp, the basket includes spending on "telegrams" and calls made from "phone booths and cabins". Entertainment: The cost of "developing photographic film" and "movie rental" in physical format (video stores) is still being measured. Portable players like MP3, MP4, and iPods are also included. Transport from the last century: Perhaps the most curious data point is that, within vehicle acquisition, the classifier includes "animal-drawn vehicles" such as "sulkys and carts", along with expenses for harnesses and collars for draft animals. What's left out: the cost of modern life The flip side of measuring the price of a floppy disk is the exclusion of expenses that today define the budget of the middle class. BUENOS AIRES, Feb 5 (NA) -- The government's decision to indefinitely postpone the update to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket, originally scheduled for January 2026, has created a statistical distortion: to calculate today's inflation, consumption parameters from 2004 are used. According to a report by Mariana Leiva for the Chequeado site, accessed by the Noticias Argentinas Agency, this delay forces the body to formally survey prices for items that have almost completely disappeared from the daily lives of Argentines, while current mass consumption is off the radar. The "museum" of inflation: what is measured today By adhering to the National Household Expenditure Survey (ENGHo) from two decades ago and the official Argentina COICOP 2019 classifier, INDEC maintains in its data collection structure a series of goods and services that seem to be from a time capsule. According to the official methodological detail, these are some of the items that still appear on the list of prices to be monitored: Office technology: "Fax machines" and their accessories, as well as "repair of telephone and fax equipment" are surveyed. Vintage audio and video: The index includes "VCRs" and VHS tapes.
