Argentina’s INDEC head steps down amid controversy over new inflation index

Updated Monday 5.15 p.m. Marco Lavagna resigned unexpectedly as director of Argentina’s statistics institute INDEC on Monday. The news comes just eight days before the institute was set to publish January’s inflation figures, calculated with a formula INDEC authorities said would better reflect purchasing power. However, hours after Lavagna’s exit, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said the new index would only be implemented “once the disinflation process is fully consolidated.” “Our view is that the index should not be changed now. In fact, it makes little difference,” he said in an interview with Radio Rivadavia. Caputo said Lavagna will be replaced by Pedro Lines, who has served in the INDEC since 2016 and has been its technical director since 2018. Differing views Lavagna’s announcement surprised a great deal of government officials and workers. “We are appalled,” said Raúl Llaneza, deputy secretary-general of the State Workers’ Association union and a union representative for INDEC. Llaneza added that Caputo’s announcement that the INDEC would finally not publish January’s inflation rate with the updated methodology doesn’t give workers “peace of mind,” as everything was “up and running” to implement it. “We find it strange, a justification that lacks technical rigor — it’s political, and we don’t think it’s right,” said Llaneza. Not all, however, were displeased with the Lavagna’s departure.  A source from the Milei administration accused the economist, who was appointed in 2019 by then-President Alberto Fernández and did not step down when Javier Milei took office, of working for former Economy Minister Sergio Massa. The source added that Lavagna was also at loggerheads with Milei’s economy minister, Luis Caputo, and several other officials. In his resignation letter, Lavagna thanked the INDEC’s workers and said that, during his six-year tenure, the institute “made progress in improving public statistics and the national statistical system.” He added that “economic and social realities are constantly changing and that the national statistical system needs to continue adapting and strengthening itself.” He highlighted that some INDEC projects along those lines are “highly developed,” while others “are still in progress.” Two key INDEC directors resigned over the past year — Guillermo Manzano (Living Conditions Statistics) and Georgina Giglio (Consumer Price Index). Inflation, a hot topic in Argentina Inflation and the way it is measured are hot topics in Argentina. Traditionally meant as an institution to operate independently from the government, the INDEC suffered an intervention during Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s two presidential terms (2007-2015) and produced unreliable data. “This feels like déjà vu because on a similar date in 2007, our organization was politically intervened because they did not like the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for January 2007,” Llaneza told the Herald. Milei was elected on a platform to “exterminate inflation,” as prices rose by 211.4% in 2023, the year he took office. Annual inflation cooled to 31.5% in 2025, which, although still high for international standards, was 180 points lower than it was two years prior. Critics, however, have said that the way the INDEC has been measuring inflation during Milei’s presidency delivers a faulty index as it is based on a basket of goods and services originally drafted in 2004.  The new index, which was set to debut on Tuesday, 10, was calculated using a 2017-2018 basket. The major difference is that the current method will assign more weight to the cost of services and transportation. The government even had pledged to change the index to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2026. The Center of Argentine Political Economy (CEPA) estimated that, if this methodology had been used over the past two years, inflation would have increased by an extra 11% overall since December 2023. According to Caputo, potential declines in inflation with the new index could be interpreted as “not due to economic performance but to the change in measurement,” which is why the government chose not to go ahead with the change.  Caputo said that Lavagna resigned because of this decision. “The president and I always shared the view that change had to be implemented once the disinflation process was fully consolidated,” Caputo said, adding that, in May last year, he thought that in January 2026 the country would be better off.  However, he said that did not happen due to last year’s “political attack” in the run-up to the legislative elections. Union representative Llaneza called Caputo’s explanation “awkward.” He also added that Lavagna’s resignation has affected INDEC staff, as the news comes at a moment in which the agency will be “at the center of public opinion.” “Alarmed” is how he described the workers’ state of mind.  “We have historically demanded an INDEC that is independent of political power,” he went on to say. Lavagna’s professional work has also come under fire from some Milei officials. The source in the national administration said that the former INDEC head miscalculated the tourist balance, an index that measures outbound and inbound tourism.  The figure has been in the spotlight due to its showing that Argentina is losing millions of dollars as the propped-up peso makes it cheaper to travel to foreign destinations, such as Brazil. The tourist balance was such a point of contention within the government that the Tourism Secretariat decided to stop financing the INDEC to produce the report. “Moreover, with the new [inflation] measurement system, a different [professional] profile is needed,” the source added.