Argentina's Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 32.4% year-on-year in January, marking the second consecutive month of acceleration, according to a report released on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec). The annual inflation rate recorded in January represents an increase of almost one point compared to December, which was at 31.5%, resulting in the lowest rate in eight years for 2025. In the first month of 2026, consumer prices rose by 2.9% compared to December, a month in which the monthly variation rate had been 2.8%. The CPI measurement methodology was supposed to be updated this month to 'improve the interpretation and analysis of the data' and ensure 'international classificatory coherence' and 'consistency for national accounts', as Indec reported in October, but the government decided against it. On February 2, Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced that this update—recommended in turn by the country's main creditor, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—would be postponed 'until the disinflation process is consolidated'. On that same day, Marco Lavagna, who had been director of Indec since the Peronist government of Alberto Fernández (2019-2023), resigned from his post. Following the sudden devaluation of the Argentine peso ordered by the government of Javier Milei upon taking office in December 2023, and the impact of his first ultra-liberal measures, inflation skyrocketed to a monthly rate of 25.5% in the last month of 2023 and an annual variation of 289.4% in April 2024. Midway through 2024, prices began a downward trend in Argentina, as a result of a strong fiscal and monetary adjustment and a collapse in consumption that crushed demand. Between May and August of last year, the inflation index maintained monthly variation rates below 2%, but in September it had already accelerated to 2.1% and in October to 2.3%, partly due to high volatility in the exchange rate of the US dollar in the Argentine foreign exchange market. According to Indec, prices for goods rose 2.8% last month compared to December, while services increased by 3.1%, figures that amount to 28.1% and 42.1%, respectively, in the annual comparison. Among the monthly increases recorded in January, standout increases were seen in food and non-alcoholic beverages (4.7%) and restaurants and hotels (4.7%). The CPI accumulated a rise of 31.5% in 2025, well below the 117.8% of 2024.
