Head of Argentina's statistics bureau forced out by Milei amid controversy over new inflation index

[peppertree]

Marco Lavagna resigned unexpectedly as director of Argentina’s statistics institute INDEC on Monday, after six years at the post serving two presidents.

The news comes just eight days before the institute was set to publish January’s inflation figures, calculated with a formula INDEC authorities said would better reflect purchasing power.

Economy Minister Luis Caputo said Lavagna, 51, will be replaced by Pedro Lines, who has served in the INDEC since 2016 and has been its technical director since 2018.

Political dismissal

Lavagna’s announcement surprised a great deal of government officials and workers.

“We are appalled,” said Raúl Llaneza, deputy secretary-general of the State Workers’ Association and a union representative for INDEC.

Llaneza added that Caputo’s announcement that INDEC would finally not publish January’s inflation rate with the updated methodology doesn’t give workers “peace of mind,” as everything was “up and running” to implement it.

“We find it strange, a justification that lacks technical rigor — it’s political, and we don’t think it’s right,” said Llaneza.

The updated CPI basket prepared by Lavagna's team before his ouster would have raised the share of housing and utilities in the new index from 9.4% to 14.5%, and of transport costs from 11% to 14.3%.

A University of Buenos Aires study found that utility costs have jumped 525% since President Javier Milei took office in late 2023, with public transport costs skyrocketing by 912% - or ten-fold.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/economics/argentinas-indec-head-steps-down-on-heels-of-new-index-debut

The now former director of Argentina's INDEC statistics agency, Marco Lavagna, during a 2021 interview.

Lavagna's dismissal by the far-right President Javier Milei rattled markets, as his ouster was quickly linked to his introduction of a revised CPI index - which would have raised estimated inflation in Milei's first two years in office from 249.5% to 288.2%.

The new CPI index prepared by Lavagna's team - promptly scrapped by the new INDEC authorities - would have raised the 2024 inflation rate from 117.8% to 123.3%, and the 2025 rate from 31.5% to 33.5%.

[markodochartaigh]

1. I remember

the economic meltdowns in Latin America and Asia in the 90's and 00's. I remember hearing over and over pundits on CNBC, CNN, etc. say that the reasons that those economies tanked was because of corruption, lack of transparency, and unreliable government data.
It looks like Argentina hasn't learned its lesson. I think that it is also obvious that the US is making the same mistakes.

[peppertree]

2. Absolutely. Authoritarians are nothing if not stubborn.

Milei, btw, has another thing in common with Snoozalini: his own pedophilia allegations - though not nearly as substantiated by paper trail evidence as Cheeto's.