Like all events that arouse public interest, whether it be sports scores, related events or decisions that affect people's daily lives, memes were the order of the day after the announcement of a sharp rise in gasoline and fuel prices that was surprisingly announced Sunday at midnight.
With the typical creativity that appears spontaneously, social media users in Argentina multiplied graphic and audiovisual creations, referring with humor to the presentation of the YPF, and later other companies such as Shell and Axion raised the average price of fuel. For the premium category, it is 9.5% basic and 11.5% on average.
According to the state-owned company, the adjustment was based on the evolution of the main variables that make up retail prices, in particular the increase in international oil costs and demand levels before the pandemic, when imports had to offset local supply. The impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which triggered the international value of crude oil, was decisive for the change of suppliers.
In this regard, the company noted that oil has increased significantly in recent weeks, reaching record levels (50 percent higher than its value at the beginning of February 2022).
In addition, the YPF pointed out that the international price of fuel that complements the local supply has risen significantly above crude oil. Therefore, they said that they will continue to monitor the evolution of variables affecting price formation “taking into account the macroeconomic situation of the country and the peculiarity of the international reality.”
The latest increase announced by the company was 9%, and it began to take effect even against the backdrop of a steady increase in global energy costs at the beginning of last February.
In March 2021, the YPF indicated that a 15% gradual adjustment would be applied over a three-month period to finance the investment during this year. The first average increase of 7% was applied on March 16 and a second increase of 6% in April. The increase has been differentiated. The city of Buenos Aires was higher and the interior was lower.
In recent weeks, international energy prices have skyrocketed following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia, one of the world's largest oil and gas producers. The barrel of Brent oil, used as a benchmark for Argentina, hit $130 this week and closed nearly $111 on Wednesday.
On the other hand, on Tuesday, it was reported that inflation accelerated again in February, reaching 4.7%. So, as Indec reported on Tuesday, it has accumulated 52.3% fluctuations over the past 12 months. The first two months of the year thus began with a high inflation index, with the CPI reaching 3.9% in January, which began to call into question the validity of the official outlook agreed by the government and the IMF. In 2022, the 48% limit was reached.
In this way, the price increase for the second month of the year was higher than expected by private consultants, which was supposed to be 4%. Food once again played an important role in inflation in February, increasing by 7.5%. In this regard, the government is analyzing measures such as increased restraint of certain agricultural products to “separate” domestic prices from the impact of international food values caused by the war in Ukraine.
According to the diagnosis of the Ministry of Economy, the award showed the immediate impact of the war conflict in Eastern Europe. “This indicator was affected by the impact of rising international prices for major commodities due to droughts and conflicts in Ukraine,” the Ministry of Finance said. However, the invasion of Russia began on February 24, four days before the end of the last month of the CPI.
“Fruits and vegetables recorded double-digit increases in almost every region. The most affected products were dairy products, an increase of between 6.0% and 8.0%, depending on the region, bread and cereals, meat and its derivatives between 3.7% and 5.8% per month, which increased by about 5.0% per month.” The Ministry of Economy analyzed.
Transportation also recorded above-average growth (4.9%): household goods (4.4%), miscellaneous goods and services including restaurants and hotels (4.3% each), health (3.6%), clothing and footwear (3.4%), housing, water, electricity and gas (2.8%), alcohol and tobacco (2.7%), education (2.6%), recreation and culture (2.3%), and communications (1.5%).
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