Argentina’s opposition slams government for inflation woes

Opposition leaders in Argentina responded strongly to the publication of May inflation data, criticising the government’s failure to tamp down runaway price increases.

Presidential hopefuls Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Patricia Bullirch were some of the most vocal Juntos por el Cambio leaders who questioned the Frente de Todos administration’s economic policy after the INDEC national statistics bureau reported that year-on-year inflation had risen to 114.2 percent.

Consumer prices increased 7.8 percent in May, according to government data, and have risen more than 42 percent so far this year.
"We can't go on like this. From December 10, we are going to start lowering inflation so that we can go back to living in peace," wrote Rodríguez Larreta, the mayor of Buenos Aires City and one of the opposition’s frontrunners for the Presidency.

Bullrich, a former security minister and the mayor’s main rival for the coalition’s nomination, said that data on price hikes were a “monthly index of failure and decadence.” Calling for change at the ballot box in the October election, she decried the lack of “any policy to reverse” inflation.

Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) City mayoral hopeful and national senator Martín Lousteau said the data “showed the failure of the government.”

Criticism also came from libertarians, with  La Libertad Avanza presidential hopeful Javier Milei complaining about the government’s money-printing.

"Repeat after me. Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon that derives from an excess supply of money, which can arise from an increase in supply, a fall in demand or both at the same time. Denying it is not free," Milei posted on Twitter, repeating his call for the closure of Argentina’s Central Bank .

On the other end of the spectrum, Frente de Izquierda y Trabajadores (FIT) presidential hopeful Gabriel Solano slammed the main partners of the ruling coalition.

 "Only Massa, CFK and Alberto can celebrate an inflation rate of 7.8 percent and a 114 percent jump in year-on-year inflation," he complained, referring to Economy Minister Sergio Massa, Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and President Alberto Fernández..

– TIMES/NA/PERFIL