LatinNews Daily - 15 June 2022

* Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has published the latest consumer price index (IPC) which showed that monthly inflation reached 5.1% in May, driving up the annual rate to 60.7%. Although annual inflation continues to soar, monthly inflation figures are in decline. The 5.1% May inflation figure is slightly lower than the 6% inflation recorded in April and the 6.7% recorded in March. However, this comes as little consolation given annualised inflation is at its highest level in over a decade. In May, the steepest monthly price increases were in health (+6.2%), transport (+6.1%), clothing and footwear (+5.8%), restaurants & hotels, and alcoholic drinks & tobacco, both up 5.7%. The Argentine government led by President Alberto Fernández is attempting to rein in rising inflation and ease its impact on the poorest members of society, with measures including exempting more workers from income tax; bringing forward minimum wage increases; and introducing extraordinary bonuses for informal workers and low-income earners, which will be funded by a proposed windfall tax on companies seeing “unexpected profits” due to the surge in prices generated from the war in Ukraine.

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