Just over a month before the presidential election in Argentina, the already high inflation rate has continued to rise. In August, the inflation rate rose to 12.4 percent compared to the previous month; compared to August 2022, the inflation rate was 124.4 percent, as the national statistics authority Indec announced on Wednesday in Buenos Aires. The inflation rate in South America’s second largest economy is one of the highest in the world. To finance the budget deficit, the central bank is constantly printing new money.
After the surprising success of the libertarian populist Javier Milei in the presidential primaries, the central bank sharply devalued the national currency, the peso, a month ago. On October 22nd, Milei will face Economy Minister Sergio Massa from the left-wing Peronist government camp and against former Interior Minister Patricia Bullrich from the conservative opposition.
Argentina suffers from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of much tax revenue.
