Economic Analyst in Libertad y Progreso.
LA MAÑANA ONLINE – Diego Piccardo, economist at the Libertad y Progreso Foundation, assured that according to the Consumer Price Index, the monthly inflation rate for December would be 3.2%, as marked by the CPI of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses for November 2020, but with a variation in the composition of that indicator.
The expert pointed out that the Chapter “Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages”, which affects the most vulnerable sectors, rose compared to the November average.
“The previous month,‘ Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages ’increased by 2.7%; and a few days after the end of December we found that the increase in this Chapter was above 3%. Although the monthly CPI will be at a similar number to that of November, it is possible that the indicator referring to food will rise above the General Index ”, Piccardo explained to La Mañana.
Also, the professional warned that the products that increased the most within the Chapter “Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages” were meat cuts, which increased by a number close to 10%.
In another order, the specialist said that according to “Libertad y Progreso”, the annual inflation rate for 2020 would reach between 31.1% and 35.5%; and estimated that the annual CPI for 2021 would be higher than 50%, as a result of the amount of monetary issue registered in 2020, and to which it will be carried out this year, since the national management will finance 60% of the State deficit.
Piccardo explained that the monthly rates for November and December 2020 will mark a “floor” for the monthly inflation of January, February and March 2021, for which in the first quarter, the monthly CPI could exceed 4%. “As of February, the demand for pesos falls, and the price rise is likely to ‘accelerate’ a little more. The inflation of 2021 is going to give a lot to talk about, and it will be one of the main problems that the national government will have, in an election year ”, he evaluated.
“The national administration extended the‘ freezing ’of electric power rates in order to‘ anchor ’some prices, but at some point it will have to update the values; and this will have an impact on the inflation index. Otherwise, there will be less energy investment and we will go back to the power cuts that existed during Kirchnerism and during the first years of Macrism, ”said Diego Piccardo.
