March inflation was 3.4% and accumulated 32.6% year-on-year

The index showed an acceleration compared to February. The Government expects a slowdown starting in April.

March inflation in Argentina was 3.4%, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuseswhich marked an increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the 2.9% registered in February. In this way, the Consumer Price Index accumulated 32.6% in the last twelve months.

The data represents the highest figure since March 2025 and confirms an acceleration trend that has already lasted for ten consecutive months. Since July of last year, when the CPI had been 1.9%, prices showed a sustained increase.

The official report indicated that regulated prices led the increases with 5.1%, driven by increases in public service, transportation and education rates. Meanwhile, core inflation stood at 3.2%, while seasonal prices registered an increase of 1%.

Among the areas with the greatest increases, Education stood out, with an increase of 12.1% at the beginning of the school year. Transportation followed, with 4.1%, driven by fuel and tickets. In addition, Food and non-alcoholic beverages had a strong impact on the general index, mainly due to the increase in meat.

On the other hand, the smallest increases were recorded in Miscellaneous goods and services (1.7%) and Home equipment and maintenance (1.3%).

After the publication of the data, the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, attributed part of the increase to the international impact, in particular to the war in the Middle East, and the process of correction of relative prices.

Along the same lines, the president Javier Miley He referred to the data and was forceful: «The data is bad. We don’t like the data since inflation repels us.» However, he maintained that there are “hard elements” to explain what happened and trusted that inflation will resume a downward path in the coming months.

Looking ahead, the Government projects that a slowdown process will begin in April. Along these lines, private surveys detected lower pressure on food during the first weeks of the month, which generates expectations of a moderation in the inflationary pace.

According to the latest Market Expectations Survey of the Central Bank, inflation could be around 2.7% in April and continue with a downward trend in the following months, although conditioned by variables such as the exchange rate, monetary policy and the international front.