Until now, business leaders in Argentina have largely gone along with official inflation figures, in spite of intensifying doubts about murky methodology and dubious reliability. But now, with July price data due out on Monday, the captains of industry are publicly calling for change.

Leaders of the Argentine Industrial Union, a powerful lobby group which has supported the government’s economic model, agree with many private economists that inflation is running at more than 25 per cent, three times the official rate, hurting margins and domestic demand.