ARGENTINA: Central Bank Forecasts Yearly Inflation Below 25% In May

(RTTNews) - (Agencia CMA Latam) Argentinean Central Bank governor Federico Sturzenegger expects a yearly inflation rate below 25% in May. He also estimated that July inflation would fall between 21% and 22% on an annual basis, reaching the lowest level since 2009. In April, the first year-on-year inflation rate by the new Argentinean statistics institute stood at 27.5%.

Speaking at the 34th Annual Congress of the Argentinean Institute of Finance Executives (IAEF), Sturzenegger stressed that "a significant disinflation process occurred through this year."

According to him, wholesale prices are already well aligned with official inflation target for 2017 (between 12% and 17%). "We have not seen any pressures on wholesale prices that could drive consumer price increases," Sturzenegger said.

"We will remain firm with our monetary policy rate until monthly inflation consolidates a clear downward path, a process that we see began to materialize in May. This Central Bank will continue to seek to guarantee a positive ex-ante real interest rate, so as to ensure that inflation fits within targets set by the institution," he said.