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Argentina inflation hits 124% as cost-of-living crisis sharpens
(www.reuters.com)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
BUENOS AIRES, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Argentina's annual inflation rate shot up to 124.4% in August and hit its highest level since 1991, stoking a painful cost-of-living crisis in the South American country.
A central bank analyst poll, released after the data, forecast inflation would end the year above 169%, a sharp hike from its estimate a month earlier of 141%.
Argentina is caught in a cycle of economic crises, with a major loss of confidence in the peso driving steady depreciation, triple-digit inflation, negative central bank reserves and a flagging economy due to drought hitting farming.
That's playing into a race towards presidential elections next month, with radical libertarian Javier Milei the shock frontrunner ahead of establishment candidates economy minister Sergio Massa and conservative Patricia Bullrich.
Massa, who has cut taxes to alleviate the impact of inflation on workers, said late on Wednesday that August had been the "hardest" month, pointing the finger at the IMF.
Business owners, who themselves face a tricky cycle of wholesale prices rising before they've shipped merchandise and been able to restock, are also suffering from product shortages due to the uncertainty of inflation.
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