Argentina monthly inflation edges back up as prices prove sticky

By Walter Bianchi and Aida Pelaez-Fernandez

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's monthly inflation rate accelerated to 2.4% in February, in line with analyst estimates, data from the INDEC statistics agency showed on Friday.

This marks an acceleration from the 2.2% recorded in January, as housing and public services expenses rose nearly 4%.

Inflation in the 12 months through February hit 66.9%, also slowing from a rate of 84.5% recorded in the previous month but a touch above the expectations of analysts polled by Reuters.

Inflation has been showing progress under the government of libertarian President Javier Milei, which has been focused on taming runaway prices, but inflation has stagnated in the past months, consistently growing between 2% and 3%.

"We expect March inflation to be close to 2%, although according to high-frequency data the first week of the month showed higher inflation than February," an analyst at investment funds Max Capital said.

Under Milei's government, inflation has slowed from eye-watering triple-digits though the administration's tough and divisive austerity measures that have fuelled mass protests. It is now looking to ease capital controls.

Annual inflation in South America's No. 2 economy had neared 300% early last year but has since come down into double digits and analysts surveyed by the central bank forecast 2025 year-end inflation slowing down to 23.3%.

(Reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Walter Bianchi; Editing by Sarah Morland and Diane Craft)