Year-on-year, price variation in the Buenos Aires area reached 31.7%. This figure is higher than national estimates because IDECBA already uses the updated formula to measure inflation, based on the 2017/18 National Household Expenditure Survey (ENGHo) with a 2021 base, which was supposed to be implemented nationwide this month but will continue with the 2004/05 ENGHo. The Equilibra report indicated that monthly inflation rose to 2.2% last month, with the main increases in restaurants and hotels (3.8%), various goods and services along with food and non-alcoholic beverages (both 3.1%), and health (2.8%). The year-on-year variation was estimated at 32%. Senior economist at the consultancy, Gonzalo Carrera, associated the monthly decline with three factors: "non-seasonal food and beverages would fall by more than 1.5 percentage points due to calmer meat prices; a drop in regulated items after sharp increases in public transport, gasoline, and tobacco in December; and a stable dollar that made certain core goods cheaper." EcoGo Consultants, for its part, estimated that inflation in food and beverages last month reached 2.5%, stating that "the increase was led by the vegetables category, while meats maintained monthly increases of around 3.6%." The Libertad y Progreso Foundation estimated that inflation closed at 2.6% in January. Thus, it calculated that the year-on-year price variation reached 32.1% in the first month of the year, "showing an acceleration, in line with the dynamics observed since October." However, they were optimistic about the behavior of prices in the new month, projecting that "from February this trend could reverse and the process of annual deceleration could resume." When analyzing the upward trend of recent months, they explained that "the slight inflationary acceleration we have seen is a reflection of the drop in peso demand due to growing electoral uncertainty that depreciated our currency", indicating that "this caused exchange rates to rise and, subsequently, pushed up the prices of tradable goods such as food and beverages, a situation that continues to happen." In this sense, the entity emphasized that "it will take time for the full loss of value of the peso to be reflected in all prices, but it should be decreasing as an increasing proportion of all goods and services have already incorporated it, leaving less to do." The C&T consultancy's retail price survey for the Greater Buenos Aires region showed a monthly increase of 2.4% in January, "breaking the upward trend of previous months". Buenos Aires, February 10 (NA) – The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) will release this Tuesday the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January, which would have experienced a slight slowdown compared to the end of last year, amidst controversy over the postponement of the new measurement and the departure of Marco Lavagna. The inflation index would have shown a decrease in January compared to the 2.8% recorded in December, cutting an upward trend observed since June 2025 that intensified from September when figures again exceeded 2%, according to private analysts surveyed by the Noticias Argentinas news agency. In this way, the indicator, which the statistical body will reveal with the old measurement, would have remained above 2% despite a slight decline in the upward path of recent months. The Market Expectations Survey (REM), prepared by the Central Bank based on private estimates, projected that inflation in the first month of 2026 would have been 2.4% and expects annual inflation to reach 22.4% by the end of the year. As a preview, inflation in the City of Buenos Aires last month reached 3.1%, an acceleration of 0.4 percentage points compared to December (2.7%). In this way, they calculated that the annual CPI would have marked 29.2%. Detailing the performance of each category, the analysis noted that food and beverages was the one with the highest increase in the month (4.1%), pointing out that "the movement was heavily influenced by the sharp rise in vegetables" and added that "meat was also decisive, increasing by around 5%, but at a slower pace since October".
