Consumer prices rose 2.4% in February, reveals INDEC

Consumer prices rose 2.4 percent in February, up slightly from the previous month, according to the INDEC national statistics bureau.

Rising 0.2 points from January’s 2.2 percent, inflation now totals 66.9 percent over the last 12 months, said the bureau.

Prices have increased 4.6 percent so far this year, high but well below previous levels of recent years. Monthly inflation has now remained below three percent for five consecutive months, dating back to October 2024, though last month it failed to drop below the two-percent floor.

In January the Central Bank reduced the ‘crawling peg,’ or controlled devaluation of the peso, from two percent monthly to one percent.

The increases were primarily driven by increases in housing, electricity, gas and other fuels (3.7 percent), followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages (3.2 percent), which were propelled by sharp increases in meat and meat-related products.

President Javier Milei took to social media to hail INDEC’s monthly figure. He observed that without the “seasonal increase of meat,” we are “already below two percent monthly.”

Argentina remains on the podium as one of the largest meat-consuming nations on the planet, although in 2024 average beef consumption fell nine percent compared to 2023, slumping to its lowest level since 1920, according to a report by the Cámara de la Industria de la Carne industry group.

The two sectors that registered the lowest increases in February 2025 were household equipment and maintenance (one percent) and clothing and footwear (0.4 percent).

At the category level, core inflation (2.9 percent) led the way, followed by regulated prices (2.3 percent). Seasonal prices registered a decrease of 0.8 percent.

INDEC detailed monthly variations for each region of Argentina. Patagonia registered the highest variation of 3.2 percent, followed by Cuyo (2.7 percent), the northwest (2.6 percent) and the pampas (2.5 percent). Below that were Greater Buenos Aires (2.2 percent) and the northeast (1.9 percent).

– TIMES/AFP/NA