Macri orders that Argentine inflation figures not be published until further notice. [View all]

[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emergency” until further notice, Finance Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said yesterday, confirming the inflation index will not be published until further notice.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
_________________________________________

The real reason monthly CPI data won't be published for the first time since at least 1942: http://www.democraticunderground.com/110846276