The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) reported this Tuesday that inflation for January 2023 was 6%, in a new increase compared to the previous value, which had been 5.1% last December.
Although the year-on-year price variation stood at 98.8%,
one piece of data marks the upward trend:
five of the twelve items
that the agency measures to calculate the CPI are
above 100%
in the last 12 months.
These are Clothing and footwear, Restaurants and hotels, Alcoholic beverages and tobacco, Miscellaneous goods and services, and Home equipment and maintenance.
The
contrast with the final report for 2022
is notorious:
in December only the first two
divisions were above that border.
Clothing and footwear, the item with the highest year-on-year inflation in January 2023, according to INDEC.
Photo Andrés D'Elia
In addition,
in Greater Buenos Aires the list rises to six categories : with a worrisome record
, nothing less than Food and non-alcoholic beverages
is added
.
A similar situation occurs in the Northeast, which in its own way represents a case apart.
Although 2023 started among the items with the lowest increase (2.3%),
Clothing and footwear
set a trend throughout almost all of 2022. In March it was 10.9%, due to the effect of the "change of season".
In April and August it was close to 10% again: 9.9% in both months.
Thus, it currently reaches
an interannual rise of 120.6%
, with extremes
in Patagonia (123%)
and in the Northeast (117.6%).
Further back is
Restaurants and Hotels
, with
109.9%
year-on-year, after showing an increase of 6.2% in the first month of the year, in the height of the summer tourist season.
Already in December it had been the second with the greatest variation.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco
, which in January was above the general value (7%), reached
103.3%
compared to January 2022. Last November it had stood out due to the increase in cigarettes.
For its part,
Miscellaneous goods and services
is the fourth category with the highest interannual increase:
102.6%
, after 6.8% in January.
It includes toiletries, personal care services, and various other goods and services.
The other one above 100% year-on-year at the national level is
Home equipment and maintenance
:
101.2%
, despite having experienced 5.4% in January, below the general variation.
At the end of 2022, as in September and October, it had been among the highest climbers due in part to the increase for domestic service personnel.
Inflation: the sixth item in the suburbs and the worrying case of the Northeast
Two regions
show six divisions with
year-on-year growth
of more than 100%: Greater Buenos Aires and Northeast
.
In the GBA, the one that adds is
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (100.3%)
,
despite the control
and pricing programs supported by the national government.
Meanwhile, in the Northeast the heading Housing
, water, electricity, gas and other fuels
is incorporated :
113.1%
.
Well above the performance in the rest
of the regions (the Northwest, the next, had a rise of 96.4% in that area).
This jump in Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels also explains why the NEA is the only region in which year-on-year inflation exceeded 100% in January: it stood at 100.2%.
"There are already 5 of 12 chapters of the National CPI with year-on-year variations of more than 100%. The worst record in more than 30 years," said
Alfonso Prat-Gay
, former Minister of Economy in the government of Mauricio Macri.
None
of the five items
that stand out in the year-on-year comparison
were on the podium
with the highest increases at the beginning of 2023. Some were above the general CPI.
All carry
the effect of the inflationary spike last year, which continues into the beginning of this year and
seems unstoppable
.
DS
look too
Only 4 countries in the world have more inflation than Argentina
The 6% in January complicates activity and economic management
