Argentina Central Bank Pauses Rate Hikes After Inflation Undershoot

CREDIT INTEREST RATE - BUENOS AIRES. Argentina's central bank board voted to keep the benchmark interest rate steady on Thursday, following better-than-expected September core inflation data, the bank said in a statement, pausing one of the world's most aggressive tightening cycles.

Last week, Reuters reported exclusively that Argentina's central bank was expected to hold the key rate steady at 75%, ending a tightening cycle that has seen the benchmark rate hiked successively each month from 38% at the start of the year.

The central bank said it "will continue monitoring the evolution of prices" and would continue to "actively employ" the monetary policy interest rate.

It also underscored its commitment to "carefully control the evolution of monetary aggregates, and interventions that aim to avoid excessive financial volatility that may negatively impact price formation."

Argentina's monthly inflation rate came in lower than expected in September at 6.2%, slower than in August and undershooting analyst forecasts of a 6.7% increase, a rare reprieve for the embattled economy and struggling residents.

Core inflation was 5.5% in September.

Annual inflation is still predicted to top a whopping 100% by the end of the year, one of the highest rates around the globe, as the grains-producing South American nation faces a wide array of economic crises and an embattled peso currency.

Headline inflation in the 12 months through September hit 83%, as President Alberto Fernandez's government fights to rein in surging prices that are sapping people's wages and savings. Prices were up 66.1% in the first nine months of the year.