Inflation and consumer price indexes in Argentina - statistics & facts

Approximately 57 percent of Argentinians think that inflation ranks among the country's main problems, surpassing, low wages corruption, crime, and poverty as the most mentioned issue by far. The situation comes as a surprise to no one, as the country has the second highest inflation rate in Latin America and has reached the top positions for many years in a row. In 2022, the inflation rate was 72.43 percent, while the regional index represented only a fraction, which means that in one year, the average Argentinian consumer paid around 70 percent more for the same goods and services. The high price increases that terrorize the country since 1946 come with many consequences, such as loss of purchasing power, increased poverty, and economic uncertainty.

How is inflation in Argentina measured?

Among the plethora of options to measure price changes, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC) uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which in the case of Argentina considers representative goods and services of the basic basket in urban and rural areas. Depending on the relevance and national spread of the product, the impact on the index changes with the idea of representing the average consumer in the country. To get more specific results, the INDEC also presents indexes of 12 different categories of products and six geographical areas, aside from the national index, to give a more characteristic result. However, to measure non-direct consumer changes, the selected indicators are the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), which accounts for the prices of bulk products between organizations, and the Producer Price Index (PPI), often considered an inflation predictor.

The vicious cycle of inflation

The open debate around the main reasons Argentina experiences chronic inflation is quite contested. Nonetheless, some crucial characteristics remain present in most arguments. The first is that the state spends more than it earns. Among the options for some governments in the same situation is to acquire debt, but the state is already in severe debt, making moneylenders less inclined to give money at low rates. The most common option used in Argentina has been to issue more money to finance the nation, which generates a higher money influx and adds to the inflation problem, while also bringing more instability to the economy. The second problem is the expectation of inflation. Both people and companies in Argentina expect inflation rates to go up soon, workers via unions constantly ask for salary increases, while companies increase prices for goods and services because they expect production costs to grow even higher, generating a spiral of inflation in the economy.

Inflation and poverty

Salaries and the minimum wage most commonly do not manage to increase at the pace of prices, and when it does, it tends to exacerbate one of the other main problems of the Argentinian economy, the informality. As the production cost rises, companies are not in the best position to invest or are not willing to take the risk and costs of registering new employees. In 2022, for example, more than half of the total employment was informal. The most vulnerable people are also the most prone to accept this type of employment. In February 2024, the value of the basic food basket stood at over 100,000 pesos, a figure more than fifty times higher when compared with the January, 2018. Between the first half of 2018 and the first half of 2023, the share of households under the poverty line increased by over ten percentage points, reaching 29.6 percent.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Mar 13, 2024

Key insights

Share of Argentinians that believe there is no solution to inflation
28.8%
Category with the highest inflation rate
Restaurants and hotels
Region with the highest inflation rate
Greater Buenos Aires
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