FOR years the IMF turned a blind eye as Argentina doctored its inflation index and plumped up its numbers for economic growth. Then last February the fund steeled itself and censured the country, warning it to improve its statistics by September or face potential suspension or expulsion. This threat was unprecedented in the fund’s history. Yet it seems it was a largely empty one. On December 9th the IMF board met to review Argentina’s progress on a new inflation index. It declared that, although the country had not adopted the measures the fund wanted, it “recognised” the government’s “ongoing work” and deferred further action until March.Certainly, those who care about the integrity of statistics cheered the recent resignation of Guillermo Moreno, the secretary for interior commerce. Mr Moreno was the man who intervened at INDEC, the statistics institute, in 2007, after which it began to fudge inflation data. Many officials nowadays take less care to pretend that inflation is around 10% rather than the true figure of around double that.Some economists believe the new inflation index will be an improvement. Others doubt that the government has suddenly embraced numerical honesty. INDEC is likely to cherry pick items for which the government has ordered price freezes and leave out those whose prices rise, thinks Juan Luis Bour of FIEL, a think-tank in Buenos Aires.Covering...
via The Economist: The Americas http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21591882-official-figures-paint-rosy-picture-so-why-are-argentines-rioting-still-lying-after-all?fsrc=rss|ame
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