BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- Argentine Vice President Julio Cobos on Wednesday called on the government to acknowledge the country's inflation problem, highlighting his split with the administration of President Cristina Fernandez.
"Inflation can't be denied, one of the problems that people have is the drop in purchasing power," Cobos said, quoted by local press. "To combat inflation, the best thing is to acknowledge it."
That goes against the government's position that there's no inflationary problem in Argentina. Cobos broke ranks with the government in 2008 during a dispute with farmers.
For the administration, inflation is a generalized rise in prices across the economy, "and that isn't happening," Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo said in response to Cobos' comments.
"Some prices are rising and of course we are going to make an effort so that doesn't happen," Randazzo said, speaking on the C5N television channel.
"What Argentine businessmen have to do is invest," Randazzo said.
Officially, Argentina's inflation is currently at around 9% a year, but most private-sector economists believe the real figure is two or three times higher. The government denies claims that it manipulates inflation data.
Argentines' expectations for future inflation, meanwhile, stood at 25% in March, according to a closely watched survey of consumers produced by the Torcuato Di Tella University.
Copyright 2009 Dow Jones Newswires
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