BUENOS AIRES: Argentina predicted Wednesday it will face inflation of around 20 percent this year, its first official inflation statistics under conservative President Mauricio Macri, who accuses his predecessor of cooking the books.
The slumping South American economy will register inflation of between 20 and 25 percent in 2016, said Economy Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay.
He said inflation came in at 30 percent last year -- more than twice the level reported by the official statistics agency under former president Cristina Kirchner, whose term ended last month.
Macri, a fierce critic of his leftist predecessor's management of the economy, suspended the publication of inflation and other economic indicators almost immediately after taking office.
His government declared a "national statistical emergency" and announced an overhaul of the National Statistics and Census Institute (INDEC).
Prat-Gay said the goal was to bring inflation down to single digits by the end of 2019.
The country has still not resumed releasing monthly inflation statistics. The new head of the statistics agency is scheduled to give a press conference Thursday to detail the new methods to be used.
The International Monetary Fund censured Argentina in 2013 for the large gap between its official economic data and independent estimates.
Macri, who has vowed to get Latin America's third-largest economy back on track with a business-friendly government, has steadily hacked away at Kirchner's legacy since taking office.
He has slashed heavy export taxes, triggered a devaluation of the overvalued currency and reopened negotiations with US hedge funds suing Argentina over defaulted debt.
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