Argentina’s inflation hit 211% in 2023, fastest gain in three decades

Argentina ended 2023 with the fastest inflation in more than three decades as President Javier Milei started to unwind a thicket of currency controls and price freezes imposed by the previous administration.

Consumer prices soared 211.4 percent in December from a year earlier, according to government data published Thursday. They jumped 25.5 percent from November, below the 30 percent median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Since taking office December 10, Milei devalued the peso 54 percent and eliminated price controls on hundreds of everyday consumer products, reversing the policies imposed by former economy minister Sergio Massa, who ran against him for president. The libertarian leader also halted runaway money-printing that had flared up during the presidential campaign.

Milei braced the country for the tough months ahead in his inauguration speech, reiterating “there is no money” and that Argentina risked hyperinflation if it didn’t change path. That hasn’t stopped worker unions from calling a general strike on January 24 nor Argentine residents from banging pots and pans on the streets in protest of his austerity measures.