In Argentina, an inflation hotbed, Ukraine war drives prices higher

March 15, 2022

By Hernan Nessi

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina, already battling annual inflation running at over 50%, is braced for prices heating up further due to spiking global commodities costs that are being exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The South American country, due to release closely watched inflation figures on Tuesday, is expected to see a 4% monthly rise, analysts polled by Reuters said, which would be the highest rate since April last year.

“The Russian-Ukrainian war is present in Argentina and that is seen in the prices paid for everything associated with commodities, which are increasing,” Economy Minister Martin Guzman said on Monday.

Estimates from 13 local and foreign analysts indicated between 3.7% and 4.5% for February inflation, which was being propelled by food prices and regulated goods and services such as gasoline.

“The rise in the price of commodities worldwide adds more fuel to the fire,” said Isaías Marini, an economist at consulting firm Econviews. “The figure for March will probably be even higher than that for February.”

Argentina, a major exporter of soy and corn, has benefited from high grains prices on its exports, though has struggled to tamp down domestic prices. The government has imposed caps on exports and price freeze agreements on some foods.

Horacio Larghi, economist at consultancy Invenómica said rising prices of food inputs would start to feed through to consumers.

“In March the situation has become very complicated with strong increases in flour and oils prices, which will undoubtedly soon be transferred to the prices of final goods,” he said.

Graphic: Battling inflation in Argentina: https://graphics.reuters.com/ARGENTINA-INFLATION/qmyvmdzmjpr/chart.png

(Reporting by Hernan Nessi; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Andrea Ricci)