Argentina’s inflation was flat at 1.9% in the month of August, stable compared with July, figures released by the INDEC statistics bureau showed on Wednesday afternoon.

Prices rose by 33.6% in the past 12 months, down slightly from 36.6% in the 12 months to July.

Transport prices rose the most (3.9%), due to hikes in vehicles and fuel. Next came alcoholic beverages and tobacco (3.5%), because of rising tobacco prices.

Economy Minister Luis Caputo celebrated the figure. “For the first time since November 2017, inflation has been below 2% per month for four consecutive months,” he wrote on X.

Clothing was the only sector to show deflation, with prices down by 0.3%.

The Pro-Tejer garment factories foundation says that prices in the sector are falling due to plummeting consumption and the Milei administration opening the sector up to imports.

“People have no money, and their core expenses — food, energy, gas, electricity, water, rent, maintenance fees, and health insurance — have increased, to say nothing of transportation,” Marco Meloni, vice president of Pro-Tejer, told the Herald. “That means our industry is being left behind: buying a pair of pants or a shirt is being put on the back burner.”

Clothing imports have increased by 130% according to Pro-Tejer’s own statistics, he added. That figure does not include Chinese fast-fashion e-commerce platforms, which he called “bloodstained” and unregulated. He added that Argentina should follow the example of France, which has recently passed a bill targeting fast fashion and clothing overconsumption, which introduces taxes, advertising bans, and sustainability rules.

INDEC plans to adopt an updated Consumer Price Index (CPI) methodology, based on data for household expenses in 2017-18. The Milei administration has been criticized for using expenditure data from 2004 to measure inflation. This does not reflect the weight of utility bills in Argentines’ monthly expenses.

The change was announced through the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff report. The goal is “to better reflect structural changes in cost patterns” and to “improve data quality,” the report noted.