*Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released its consumer price index for August, showing a monthly inflation rate of 4.2%, marking a slight acceleration from 4.0% in July. The annual inflation rate came to 236.7% in August, down from 263.4% the previous month. All 12 categories of goods and services measured saw a monthly rise in prices, with the greatest increases registered in housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels (+7.0%), education (+6.6%), and transport (+5.1%). In terms of regional variation, monthly inflation was highest in the northwest of the country, which registered 5.0% inflation. In the northwest, costs for housing, water, electricity, gas & other fuels increased by 17.0% in monthly terms. Within this category, energy bills in the northwest saw a monthly increase of 21.2%.