June 12nd, 2026
1. Inflation in May was 2.1%, the lowest since September
After several weeks of estimates predicting that the slowdown in prices would continue, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) reported that inflation in May stood at 2.1%, the lowest rate since September 2025. The result was announced after April closed with a consumer price index of 2.6%, indicating a slowdown of 0.4 percentage points compared to that reading. With this result, inflation reached 14.7% in the first five months of 2026, while the y-o-y rate stood at 33.2%, according to data released by the statistics agency. The Communication sector led the month’s increases with 3.4%, driven by telephone services, followed by Education, which rose 2.9%. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (0.8%) and Clothing and Footwear (0.3%) were sectors with the lowest variation nationwide. The agency also released figures for the Basic Total Basket (CBT) and the Basic Food Basket (CBA), according to which a typical family consisting of a couple and two children needed an income of $1,498,741 in May to avoid falling below the poverty line, and $681,246 to avoid being classified as destitute.
TN: Inflación INDEC: se supo el dato de mayo y el acumulado en los últimos 12 meses
2. Industry and construction fell again in April
Industrial activity and construction declined in April 2026, according to the national statistics agency INDEC. Both sectors contracted by 2.8% compared to the same month in 2025 and failed to sustain the improvement seen in March. Compared to the previous month, construction fell by 4.0% and industry by 2.1%. Despite this, in the first four months of the year, construction still showed a 2.1% increase, while industry recorded a 2.4% decline. Among industrial sectors, the hardest hit were textiles and machinery and equipment manufacturing, with declines exceeding 20%. Motor vehicle production and electronic equipment production also fell sharply. In contrast, chemicals and chemical products grew by 16.7%, driven by the recovery of the petrochemical sector, and oil refining and the tobacco industry also grew. In construction, inputs such as cement, plaster, and tiles concentrated most of the decline, whereas iron, paints, and other materials recorded increases. Employment in the sector and building permits showed positive signs: in March, private-sector jobs rose 2.5% and the area authorized for construction grew 14.5%. Looking ahead to the coming months, expectations regarding the level of activity are expected to be largely cautious, against a backdrop of weakened domestic demand.
El Litoral: El rebote duró un mes: abril devolvió a la industria y construcción a terreno negativo
3. UNICEF: child poverty fell to 42.3% in 2025 but warns of a possible rise in 2026
Child poverty in Argentina fell to 42.3% in the second half of 2025, its lowest level since 2018, according to a report by UNICEF Argentina. According to the report, by the end of 2025, 5.1 million children and adolescents were living in poor households, down from 6.3 million in 2024. Extreme child poverty dropped to 9.4%, equivalent to 1.1 million minors whose household income does not cover the basic food basket. The agency warned that the recovery is fragile and projected a possible rise in child poverty to around 44.4% in the first half of 2026, with extreme poverty near 10.8%. It noted that the trend will depend on family incomes, the cost of basic food baskets, the labour market and social transfers. The report, titled “Monetary poverty and rights-related deprivations among girls and boys. Argentina 2016-2025”, was presented at the Círculo Italiano in Buenos Aires. According to the document, without monetary transfer programmes such as the Universal Child Allowance (AUH) and the Prestación Alimentar, child extreme poverty would be six percentage points higher. The study highlights inequalities: child poverty reaches 68.8% in households with low educational levels, 74.8% when the responsible adult is unemployed and 52.8% in households headed solely by women. In addition, seven out of ten households with children and adolescents resorted to debt, selling belongings or buying on credit to cover expenses during 2025.
La Nación: Unicef sostiene que la pobreza infantil bajó al 42,3% en 2025, el nivel más bajo desde 2018
4. Manuel Adorni submitted his financial disclosure statement amid tensions over his legal situation
Amid anticipation surrounding the filing of his financial disclosure statement, Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni confirmed that he had amended his financial disclosure statements with the Anti-Corruption Office and included approximately $500,000 that had not been listed in his previous filings. The corrections to the sworn statement submitted on Wednesday cover the periods 2023, 2024, and 2025. Adorni acknowledged that these funds had remained undeclared and attributed them to savings accumulated with his wife, Bettina Angeletti, during years of private sector work, and to profits from cryptocurrency investments. As he explained, he had invested approximately USD 200,000 in Bitcoin between 2013 and 2014, had made a profit of USD 300,000 and begun liquidating those holdings in 2018. Adorni justified the omission by noting that, in those years, informal savings were a widespread practice, and he committed to settling the tax obligations arising from the correction. The statement comes amid a judicial investigation into alleged illicit enrichment, which is examining inconsistencies in the evolution of his assets and had “urgently” requested corrections to verify the data. These admissions contrast with his previous statements before Congress, where he had asserted that his disclosures contained “all the details of his assets” and that “there was never any concealment.” On Thursday, Adorni presided over a political leadership meeting—the administration’s main gathering of political officials—to review the executive branch’s next steps and the parliamentary agenda, as well as to demonstrate unity amid internal tensions over his legal cases. However, prior to the political committee meeting, Senator Patricia Bullrich, leader of the La Libertad Avanza bloc in the Senate, had made a series of statements in which she said that Adorni had committed an “ethical omission” in his sworn statement—remarks that add to the tension of the past month, following Bullrich’s criticism of the Chief of Staff’s delay in submitting his declaration. After the meeting, Adorni announced that he would go to the National Senate in July to present a report on his activities as Chief of Staff.
5. Legislators in the Chamber of Deputies debated the Lobbying Bill and the Super RIGI Bill in committee
The Chamber of Deputies held briefings this week on two initiatives proposed by the Executive Branch: the lobbying regulation bill, known as the Lobbying Law, and the Incentive Regime for Large Investments in New Industries (Super RIGI). At the second meeting on the Lobbying Law, held on Wednesday in the Constitutional Affairs and General Legislation committees, 26 representatives from nongovernmental organizations, business chambers, and labor unions spoke, all of whom agreed in their rejection of the bill and called for the text to be rewritten. Among the objections were the definition of “lobbying,” considered to be too broad; the requirement for prior authorization to engage in lobbying; the imbalance between lobbyists and those being lobbied; and restrictions on international funding. Following this, the committees agreed to hold another meeting next Wednesday. Meanwhile, last Tuesday, the Budget and Finance, Industry, and Science and Technology committees resumed the debate on the Super RIGI. During the meeting, representatives from the hydrocarbon, energy, and mining sectors defended the results of the current RIGI, which the ruling party presented as an argument to justify the new regime. In the hydrocarbons sector, the expansion of oil production and progress on projects related to Vaca Muerta were highlighted, while in the mining sector, growth in copper and lithium production was emphasized. The opposition (Unión por la Patria) questioned the scope of the program, its fiscal cost, and the lack of requirements for local suppliers.