February arrives with a series of increases that will impact your expenses and your cost of living to a greater or lesser extent. Although it is estimated that inflation in January will be close to 2%, February is coming with increases above that value for rents, prepaid medicine, utilities and other important items.
First increases in February: rents go up
If you rent and your rental contract is governed by the Rent Law, which adjusts the value by means of the Rental Contracts Index (ICL), you will have an increase of 174.4% in February. This index only affects you if you signed your contract between July 1, 2020 and October 17, 2023.
VTV and prepayments will increase in February.
Rents are just one of many increases in February. Four of the main prepaid companies reported that installments increased up to 3.2% in February, surpassing December’s inflation figure of 2.7%. And in the case of vehicle owners, as from February 1, the Verificación Técnica Vehicular (VTV) in Buenos Aires has increased by 17.9% with respect to December. The cost of obtaining the mandatory certificate will go from $53,819.26 to $63,463.30.
Water, Electricity, Gas, Cable? What will not increase in February?
In the case of water, AySA adjusts 1% in its February bills. Telecommunications companies apply a new adjustment in February: between 2.9% and 3.6%, depending on the service and the company.
Meanwhile, everything related to energy (electricity and gas) is awaiting confirmation from the Government to apply staggered increases, which had already increased by 1.8% in January.
Will fuel also go up in February? It is not yet known because YPF has not confirmed whether there will be a new increase in February. However, in January, it had already applied a 1.75% increase .