Of Course There Is Inflation

A week after his cabinet chief said inflation didn’t exist in Argentina, President Kirchner Monday steered his government back from the land of make-believe, acknowledging what all of us know already:

“Of course there is inflation in Argentina,” he said during an event at the Casa Rosada.

The comment, a belated but nonetheless much-welcome recognition of reality, came only after Kirchner took a week-long beating in the press for his administration’s blatant disregard for the truth and public opinion.

Inflation clearly is a problem. Yet a brief look at the historical data shows that the current challenge pales in comparison to what Argentines have faced in previous years. The last time Argentina experienced inflation this high was in 2002, immediately after the devaluation. That year it totaled about 26%. A decade before that, in 1992, it reached 25%, according to the national statistics office, INDEC.

But that seems like child’s play compared with 1989, when inflation totaled 3,080%. And even that seems tame compared with March of 1990, when inflation soared 20,262% against the same month a year earlier.