INDEC director Marco Lavagna resigned on Monday due to disagreements with the government over implementing a new methodology for measuring January inflation. Economy Minister Luis Caputo confirmed the change will be postponed and appointed Pedro Lines as replacement. Unions express concerns over potential data manipulation.
Marco Lavagna, director of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), announced his resignation on Monday, February 2, 2026, to union delegates, citing the government's refusal to publish January inflation data using the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) announced in October 2025. This new CPI is based on the 2017/2018 National Survey of Household Expenditures (ENGHO), giving greater weight to services, housing, and transportation, unlike the 2004 survey used until now.
Economy Minister Luis Caputo admitted in interviews with radios Rivadavia and Mitre that the resignation stems from not implementing the change now, as the disinflation process is not yet consolidated. "Marco was working on the new methodology and had it scheduled for now. With the President, we always thought it should be changed once the disinflation process was consolidated," Caputo said. He estimated January inflation at around 2.5% and stated the new index would yield similar results to the current one. He announced Pedro Lines, an economist with INDEC experience and time in Qatar, as the new director, who agreed to keep the current methodology.
Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni justified the decision on TN: "We had differences in criteria. We were going to have two different indices." Lavagna posted on X a message thanking his team: "A new stage opens."
Unions like ATE, led by Rodolfo Aguiar, raised alarms over the timing of the resignation, eight days before the CPI release on February 10. "It's not casual... it raises doubts about INDEC's future. Workers won't lend themselves to any fiddling with statistics," Aguiar declared. Raúl Llaneza from ATE INDEC compared it to the 2007 intervention under Guillermo Moreno, demanding independence.
This episode recalls past manipulations during Kirchnerism, which distorted indicators and led to judicial convictions. Under Milei, inflation fell from 211% in 2023 to 31.5% in 2025, a key achievement for his administration.
