Argentina's annual inflation soars above 250% in January
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Argentina's monthly inflation decelerated slightly, but the prices of essential goods and services still increased by 254 percent compared to the previous year.
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Argentine President Javier Milei leaves the St. Damasus Courtyard at The Vatican after a private audience with Pope Francis, on Monday, February 12, 2024. (AP)
The statistics agency announced on Wednesday that Argentina's monthly inflation eased slightly in January, yet prices of essential goods and services surged by 254 percent year-on-year.
President Javier Milei, who assumed office in December amid public outrage over decades of economic mismanagement, had cautioned that Argentina's struggle with inflation was ongoing. On Wednesday, he reaffirmed his commitment to his policies.
"If one takes the number alone, isolated, it is horrifying. And indeed it is, but you have to look at where we were and what the trend was," Milei told television station La Nacion Mas.
The INDEC statistics agency reported that monthly inflation stood at 20.6 percent in January, a decrease from the 25.5 percent recorded in December.
Annual inflation in December was 211 percent.
A new face in #Argentine politics has risen. A #Trump supporter, gun-rights activist, and an advocate for selling organs.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 15, 2023
Who is #JavierMilei?#Argentina pic.twitter.com/ishEab2pfg
Earlier this month, Milei's deeply controversial deregulatory reforms faced a major setback in parliament on February 6th, when the package was blocked from advancing and sent back for a rewrite, legislators said.
While the Chamber of Deputies prepared for a vote on the bill, the president's La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party suddenly requested and obtained the session's adjournment.
Oscar Zago, leader of the ruling party faction said, "The governors (of the provinces) did not keep their word."
The bill will now be looked over again by the LLA's committee for discussion, Zago explained, while emphasizing that the move was not considered a failure for the president.
