Argentina marked the first month of 2025 with its lowest inflation rate since July 2020 and the month with the lowest inflation under the administration of President Javier Milei to date, dropping 0.5 percent from December’s 2.7 percent.
The Argentine newspaper La Nación highlighted the slowdown of inflation during January and explained that the month tends to be one with “seasonally high” inflation as Argentina, a country located in the Southern Hemisphere, is currently going through summer. January also marked the fourth month in a row in which Argentina measured an inflation rate under three percent since it dropped down to 2.7 percent in October.
“Since the beginning of this administration, Argentina has begun to undergo a process of stabilization and disinflation based on three anchors: fiscal, monetary and exchange rate,” the Argentine Economy Ministry said on social media.
Upon taking office in December 2023, President Milei immediately implemented a series of “shock therapy” economic policies to help avert a complete financial catastrophe in the South American nation after the disastrous policies of Milei’s predecessor, socialist former president and suspected domestic abuser Alberto Fernández pushed Argentina to the brink of complete economic ruin.
Milei’s policies successfully brought down inflation throughout 2024, going from 25.5 percent at the start of his administration in December 2023 to 2.2 percent in January 2025. During January 2024, the inflation rate was measured at 20.6 percent.
INDEC, a decentralized entity within the Argentine Economy Ministry, measures monthly inflation from an average of several categories such as housing and utilities, food, and clothing. In its detailed breakdown report, INDEC revealed that restaurants and hotels experienced the highest increases at 5.3 percent, followed by a 4 percent increase in housing and utilities, and 2.5 percent in the recreation and culture category.
The categories with the lowest increase in inflation during January, INDEC detailed, were food and nonalcoholic beverages at 1.8 percent, home equipment and maintenance at 1.6 percent, 1.2 percent in transport, and 0.5 percent in education. Unlike the other categories, clothing and footwear experienced a deflation of minus 0.7 percent during January.
President Javier Milei celebrated the announcement on social media by posting a picture of himself and Economy Minister Luis “Toto” Caputo that he accompanied with a caption that translates to “Let’s gooooo, Toto! January inflation rate 2.2 percent. Period.”
In a video published on his personal Instagram account, Milei, a libertarian economist, explained that while January’s 2.2 percent was the lowest inflation rate in the past 5 years, it is also the lowest since 2018 if you account for the effects of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
“In addition, inflation in goods was 1.5 percent, that is, where you do not look for the effects of the backward tariffs left by the previous government. And if you look at the basic food basket, it was 0.9 percent. That is to say, in goods and in the basic basket, Argentina has deflation in dollars, since the crawling peg was at 2 percent,” Milei said.
“Therefore, we are still making history. We are the best government in history, in spite of all the econochantas [slang term for “fraudulent economists”] and the bunch of baboons who want Argentina to do badly,” he continued, before exclaiming his widely-famous catchphrase, “Long live liberty, damn it!”
Milei also celebrated the announcement on Instagram by reposting a cartoon of himself celebrating Valentine’s Day with a caption that reads, “We have a President completely in love with fiscal discipline.”
Economy Minister Luis Caputo reportedly asserted last week during an interview that the government projects inflation will quickly drop below the two-percent threshold and that there is a possibility that inflation in February will be measured at lower than two percent.
“Hopefully it will start in February with 1 [percent], the disinflation process is going to continue, the macro order is going to continue,” Caputo reportedly said. “The process is inevitable and we hope it continues to surprise.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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