Macri orders that Argentine inflation figures not be published until further notice.

[forest444]

Argentine President Mauricio Macri issued a decree declaring the country public statistics in a “state of emergency” until further notice, Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said yesterday, confirming the inflation index will not be published until further notice. The broad move hands INDEC statistics bureau chief Jorge Todesca a number of legal tools to “normalize” its operations.

The Economy minister said Todesca is working on a new price index but until that’s done no inflation figures will be published. Nevertheless, in the short-term an “alternative” index might be published to avoid problems with contracts that are tied with the so-called CER (Reference Stabilization Coefficient), Prat-Gay said. “The trash isn’t ours but we don’t have any problems with cleaning it up gradually,” Prat-Gay said, speaking about the INDEC.

The lack of inflation data could become a problem as wage negotiations are set to start at the beginning of the year. Asked about what figures the government will use as a reference, Prat-Gay said they planned on analyzing private estimates, as well as those published by provincial statistics agencies. The latest available official data reported annual inflation of 14.3% in October. This was far below estimates from data made public by lawmakers in Congress, which put inflation at 25%.

Two weeks ago, Todesca gave his first press conference after taking office and acknowledged he could not place a definitive date on when the body would be producing reliable data again. Macri pledged to reform the government statistics bureau during his campaign. For years, the consumer price data produced by the statistics bureau has been broadly seen as inaccurate, leading to many private consultancies producing their own reports.

At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/205859/government-declares-national-statistics-emergency
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The real reason monthly CPI data won't be published for the first time since at least 1942: http://www.democraticunderground.com/110846276

[Judi Lynn]

1. Have never heard of this trick, not once. How can he get by with these things? Unbelievable.

Completely baffling.

I guess he doesn't fear any vicious blowback from the fascists, does he?

This will take some time to absorb.

Thank you.

[forest444]

2. Macri's counting on Argentine big media (and by extension, foreign media) to give him a pass.

Last edited Fri Jan 1, 2016, 12:15 PM - Edit history (1)

And of course, the Clarín Group (particularly its cable news outlet, TN) and La Nación no doubt will.

But unfortunately for him, Argentine media is very diverse in both the print and broadcast sectors (not to mention online news sites). The Argentine public, moreover, are typically very conversational when it comes to politics - and as Cristina Kirchner could tell him, being President puts him front and center in any controversy having to do with national governance (even many local matters).

His strategy, then, seems to be leaning toward that old standby of the Argentine right: harassment and censorship (or worse). His recent spate of decrees replacing AFSCA with his own agency (headed by one of his flunkies), and his behavior as mayor appear to confirm that as well. http://www.democraticunderground.com/110843753

Have a great New Year, Judi Lynn!!

[bemildred]

4. Yep.

Just like when Raygun "won" the election against Jimmy Carter in 1980, all of a sudden all kinds of things that Jimmy would have been ripped to shreds over were OK ... No lies were questioned, ruling by decree was suddenly democratic, the main thing was to stop reform in its tracks.

[forest444]

5. That's a good analogy - October surprise and all.

It's pretty much established fact now, as you know, that Bush and Casey negotiated the delay of the hostages' release until the day Ronzo took over (Kissinger even "predicted" as much, practically down to the minute, to Walter Cronkite during CBS Election Night coverage that year).

Macri's goons did something similar this year with the help of the "Fox News of Argentina," the Clarín Group: Martín Lanatta, a felon serving a life sentence for aggravated murder (he was also a speed trafficker), claimed on television (i.e. not under oath) that a close ally of President Cristina Kirchner had "ordered a murder of three crooks in 2008."

His name or anyone else's had never come up in 7 years, and of course no evidence - even circumstantial - was provided; but it worked: the claim, aired over and over on right-wing cable news, was decisive in Macri's narrow victory as President and Vidal's election as Governor of Buenos Aires (Vidal, an extremist Opus Dei Catholic who's opposed to abortion even in cases of incest or ectopic pregnancy, is a close Macri ally).

Three weeks after Vidal took office as governor, guess what happened: Lanatta, his brother, and an accomplice "escaped" from a maximum-security prison. They had prison guard uniforms and even the keys to a guard's car. http://www.democraticunderground.com/110846561

Anyway, I wanted to wish you a Happy New Year bemildred! Best wishes to you and yours for 2016.

[bemildred]

6. And a happy new year to you too, Forest. nt

[Marksman_91]

3. Seriously?

The Venezuelan government has not released official inflation numbers in almost a year. So why aren't you calling THAT out?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

8. Stopping publishing fictional inflation figures is a start, but publishing real ones would be better

Argentina's officially published economic statistics have been being fictionalised for a long time.

Stopping publishing the lies is a step in the right direction, but obviously starting to publish accurate figures would be better.

[forest444]

9. Just the ones pertaining to CPI.

This was done because so many of Argentina's bonds were tied to inflation, and for years after the policy of inflation understatement began (in 2007) it saved them up to $3 billion a year in interest payments.

A good alternative inflation measure would have been the one used to measure GDP growth, which is why the IMF itself (no friend of Argentina) endorses the GDP growth figures. In any case, inflation was on a downward trend (about 1.6% a month according to MIT, or 21% annualized) until Macri's election and his announcement of a shock devaluation triggered a sharp price run-up.

Orlando Ferreres (a Menem-era official whose CPI estimates were favorites of the Argentine right, until Macri took over that is), projects that inflation in 2016 will be no less than 38%.

That's why Macri refuses to publish any inflation figures for the time being.

[Judi Lynn]

10. The more light we get on this, forest444, the better. Thank you, so much. n/t