Argentina 2022 inflation to reach 54.8% -cenbank poll

(Reuters) – Inflation in Argentina is expected to reach 54.8% at the end of 2022, according to a central bank poll of analysts released on Friday, 2.7 percentage points higher than estimated in the same survey last month.

The poll also showed that analysts expect the economy to grow 2.9% this year, according to the median forecast, up from 2.5% in the previous poll.

Analysts also expect Argentina’s embattled peso to currency to fall further, with the official rate hitting 163.74 pesos per dollar by December and 229.18 pesos per dollar by the end of 2023. Today, it trades at 103.29 pesos per dollar.

In the black market, the Argentine peso is often worth half the official rate.

The third-largest economy in Latin America has suffered from high inflation for years and has recently begun to recover from a long recession exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The monthly Market Expectations Survey poll surveyed 37 analysts between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30, the bank said in a statement.

The analysts polled also estimated that December inflation reached 3.4%.

(Reporting by Carolina Pulice; Editing by Alistair Bell)