The construction cost index in Greater Buenos Aires rose 15.5% in January compared to an inflation of 20.7% in the first month of the year.
He construction cost index in Greater Buenos Aires (ICC) rose 15.5% in the first month of the year, as reported this Monday afternoon by the Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC)while the inflation of the same month was located in 20.7%. In this way, it positioned itself 5.2 percentage points (pp) below the price variation.
This advance was the result of an increase in 13.2% in “Materials“, of 19.3% in the cost of “Labor” and of 15.2% in “General expenses”. The labor chapter is in line with the latest parity of Construction Workers Union of the Argentine Republic (UOCRA) although it also considers the workers outsourced.
However, in the year-on-year comparison the construction cost climbed 251.5% while the Consumer Price Index (CPI) In that same period of time it stood at 254.2%, about 2.7 pp above the ICC.
The Government cut more than 85% of transfers for public works in January
Public works expenditure, which appears in the budget as an item of “capital expenditure”adjusted more than 85% in January compared to the same month of the previous year. This is the most pronounced adjustment since 2024 began. Infrastructure projects received a turnover of just US$90 million in the first month of the year.
The objective of zero deficitwhich is so important for the Government of Javier Milei and that “it is not negotiated”, was explained by the cut in transfers to provinces (-$310,781) and the pension expense (-$885,074)as well as the public works (-$77,988) was one of those that experienced the most pronounced adjustment in the first month of the year.
According to the report of the president of the Argentine Institute of Fiscal Analysis (Iaraf), Nadin Argañaraz, Capital expenditures suffered a real year-on-year drop of 86%.
Source: Ambito
