Stories that caught our eye: January 9 to 16

LAST YEAR’S INFLATION 31.5%

Inflation was confirmed as having risen for the fourth month running Tuesday when the INDEC national statistics bureau posted 2.8 percent for December, the second-highest figure of the year. Total inflation for 2025 was thus 31.5 percent – the lowest figure for a calendar year since the 24.8 percent of 2017. Transport (four percent) and Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (3.4 percent), Communications (3.3 percent), Restaurants and hotels (3.2 percent) and the key item of Food and beverages (3.1 percent) were the leading culprits while beef (almost eight percent) along with fuels alone accounted for a third of the inflation. Restaurants and hotels and Housing etc. were also leading items in the figures for 2025 with 42.2 percent and 41.6 percent respectively although behind Education (52.3 percent). Core inflation (excluding regulated and seasonal prices) was also above average at three percent in December, a worrying sign. Economy Minister Luis Caputo described the annual figure as “an extraordinary achievement bearing in mind a context of readjusting relative prices, the implementation of a currency float and a sharp contraction in the demand for money as the result of a ferocious political attack.” Just before last weekend City Hall also registered accelerating inflation with a slightly lower December figure of 2.7