Argentina’s national statistics agency, INDEC, reported Thursday that consumer prices rose 1.7% in August, down from 2.1% in July, in line with private forecasts and the slowest monthly reading in 14 months. It is the lowest August inflation since 2017.
#DatoINDEC Los precios al consumidor (#IPC) aumentaron 1,7% en agosto de 2026 con respecto a julio y 33,5% interanual. Acumularon un alza de 21,3% en los primeros ocho meses del año.
Translation: "#INDECData. Consumer prices (#CPI) rose 1.7% in August 2026 versus July and 33.5% year-on-year. They have accumulated an increase of 21.3% in the first eight months of the year."
Core inflation, which strips out regulated prices and seasonal goods and is generally viewed as a cleaner read on underlying price pressure, came in at 1.8%. Prices are up 21.3% for the year to date and 33.5% over the past twelve months, which still leaves Argentina with one of the highest inflation rates in the world.
Housing, water, electricity and gas costs rose fastest, at 2.8%, followed by education at 2.5% as the increase filtered through from the start of the school year in some provinces, and regulated prices generally at 2.2%. Food and beverages, which carry the heaviest weight in the basket and hit lower-income households hardest, rose broadly across regions on higher prices for vegetables, legumes, fruit and bread. Clothing and footwear fell 0.6% and seasonal items dropped 0.9%, while recreation and culture were essentially flat.
The result matched what private consultancies had forecast in the days before the release, with estimates clustered between 1.6% and 1.7%.
The government did not downplay the moment. Economy Minister Luis Caputo said the reading was “the lowest increase since June of last year, and the slowest pace for an August since 2017,” calling it validation of the fiscal and monetary tightening that has defined his tenure. Milei reacted with a one-line message to his economy minister: “Vaaamos, Toto!” Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger struck a more measured tone, saying that “it will take a month more, a month less, but if the economic policies are those of a normal country, inflation is going to become a normal country’s inflation.”
LA INFLACIÓN DE AGOSTO FUE LA MÁS BAJA EN 14 MESES ✅ El Índice de Precios al Consumidor (IPC Nacional) registró una variación de 1,7% mensual en agosto, la menor suba desde junio del año pasado y el ritmo más bajo para un mes de agosto desde 2017.
Translation: "AUGUST INFLATION WAS THE LOWEST IN 14 MONTHS. The Consumer Price Index (National CPI) posted a 1.7% monthly change in August, the smallest increase since June of last year and the slowest pace for an August since 2017."
Independent of the headline number, the deceleration in official inflation has not translated evenly into relief at the household level. A shelved inflation index that Argentina’s own statistics agency stopped publishing years ago has separately shown wages losing purchasing power roughly twice as fast as the official CPI implies.
The data landed in the same week the Treasury moved to roll over roughly 8.1 trillion pesos in short-term debt and the country’s bonds held firm through a broader global selloff, with the country-risk spread steady near 491 basis points.
Private forecasters see September inflation holding below 2% as well. Consultancies including Aldazabal y Cia caution that breaking decisively below 1.5% on a sustained basis is a harder threshold to clear, given how much of the recent deceleration has depended on a relatively calm exchange rate and administered prices that the government can only hold down for so long.