Argentina and Colombia: the only Latin American countries in which inflation accelerated in March

By Juan Pablo Álvarez

Inflation in Latin America is starting to ease in most countries, although with nuances and some exceptions.

During March, all countries in the region, with Argentina and Colombia as exceptions, showed an encouraging deceleration in year-on-year terms.

• Venezuela, which was among those that slowed down, is still the country with the highest consumer price index (CPI) in the world, followed by Lebanon and Argentina.
• Argentina had monthly inflation of 7.7% in March, bringing the inter-annual rate to 104.3%.
• Colombia had year-on-year inflation of 13.34% in March (the highest in 24 years), compared to 13.28% in February.

WHICH COUNTRIES MANAGED TO REDUCE THEIR INFLATION IN MARCH?

• In Bolivia, March inflation closed at -0.08%, bringing year-on-year inflation to 2.53%. In February, the latter had stood at 2.57%.
• Brazil, Latin America’s leading economy, closed March with a year-on-year inflation rate of 4.65%, when in February, this metric stood at 5.60%. Monthly inflation ended at 0.71% when the market expected 0.78%. The problem seems to be under control, albeit at the cost of a high monetary policy rate.
• Chile also seems to be on track in its fight against prices, given that it closed March with a year-on-year CPI of 11.1%, while in February, the index stood at 11.9%.
• In Costa Rica, prices fell 0.23% in March with respect to February, bringing the year-on-year rate to 4.42%. The previous month it had stood at 5.58%.
• Ecuador had closed February with a year-on-year CPI of 2.9%; in March, it fell to 2.85%.
• In El Salvador, interannual inflation in March was 6.06%, down from 6.82% in February.
• Guatemala has also been improving: after ending with a year-on-year CPI of 9.92% in February, in March, the indicator fell to 8.71%.
• Honduras’ year-on-year inflation had stood at 9.8% year-on-year in February but fell to 9.05% in March.
• Mexico, Latin America’s second-largest economy, has also been progressing in its fight against inflation: March’s year-on-year inflation stood at 6.85%, compared to 7.62% in February. The monthly figure showed a price increase of only 0.27%.
• Nicaragua ended March with a year-on-year inflation rate of 10.39%, an improvement over February’s 11.1%.
• In Panama, the country with the lowest inflation in Latin America, year-on-year inflation was 2% in March, the same as in February.
• Paraguay’s interannual inflation was 6.4% in March, while in February, it was 6.9%.
• Peru had year-on-year inflation of 8.67% in March, down from 8.99% in February.
• The Dominican Republic also enjoyed a slowdown in inflation in March: year-on-year inflation closed at 5.9%, while in February, it had been 6.38%.
• Uruguay had a year-on-year inflation rate of 7.33% in March, a drop of 0.22 points with respect to the 7.55% of the previous month.
• Venezuela, the country with the highest inflation in the world, ended March with an interannual rate of 501% when in February, it had been 537.7%. The monthly rate was 4.2%. Since the Central Bank of Venezuela has not published information since October, the data are taken from the Venezuelan Finance Observatory (OVF), a private institution.

THIS IS HOW INFLATION CLOSED THE FIRST QUARTER IN LATIN AMERICA

Venezuela accumulated an inflation rate of 67.7% in the first quarter, while Argentina closed the period January – March with a price increase of 21.7%.

WHAT ABOUT INFLATION IN CUBA?

The latest official data on inflation in Cuba corresponds to February when the year-on-year CPI stood at 44.5%.

However, private measurements estimate the number to be much higher.

With information from Bloomberg