Significance: If accurate, this figure would not make great reading for the government led by President Mauricio Macri. But given the devaluation of the peso following the removal of foreign currency controls last December, coupled with the decision to ramp up electricity tariffs by up to 600% from 1 February, it would not be surprising. For his part, the finance minister, Alfonso Prat-Gay, admitted that the CPI was high but ruled out “inflationary inertia” and predicted that inflation would not exceed the government’s target of 25% for this year. Speaking at an economics seminar in Santiago, Chile, Prat-Gay said that inflation should slow to just 1% a month in the second half of the year, which would be in line with the government’s annual target of 12% for next year. Prat-Gay also predicted that by the end of the government’s four-year term inflation would come down to 5%.
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