PREVIEW-Argentina seen reporting Oct inflation of 1.0 pct

By Walter Bianchi BUENOS AIRES, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Argentina's October inflation rate is expected to come in at 1.0 percent due to higher food prices and leisure costs, but real inflation is seen still higher, a Reuters poll of economic analysts showed on Wednesday. Forecasts by seven analysts surveyed by Reuters ranged from 0.6 percent to 1.0 percent, with an average outlook of 0.9 percent and a median of 1.0 percent. Most private inflation surveys put the real rate closer to twice that. "Food and leisure costs went up the most" in October, said Osvaldo Cado, an analyst at consulting group Prefinex. "It's unpredictable what the INDEC will say, but I doubt that it will be honest because it's a political issue," Cado said referring to Argentina's embattled national statistics agency. Economic analysts, opposition politicians and renegade state statistics workers accuse the government of low-balling official price data for political capital as well as to save money on repayments on inflation-indexed bonds. Official inflation rates, however, have come in slightly higher since Economy Minister Amado Boudou took office in July, vowing to end the controversy over government data. Consumer prices rose 0.4 percent in October 2008 and 0.7 percent in September of this year. After several key INDEC officials were fired in 2007, Argentina altered its method for calculating inflation last year. Boudou has formed an academic oversight committee to monitor INDEC methodology, and some analysts say inflation data released in recent months suggests the government wants to close the gap between official figures and private estimates. Inflation in 2009 is expected to come in at 14 percent, climbing to about 20 percent next year, according to consulting firm Capital Markets Argentina. In the first nine months of the year, prices rose 6.2 percent. A monthly central bank poll estimated August's inflation at 0.6 percent. ((Additional reporting by Jorge Otaola; Writing by Luis Andres Henao, Editing by Gary Crosse)) (([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail])) ((For help: click "Contact Us" on your desktop, click here or call 1-800-738-8377 for Reuters Products and 1-888-463-3383 for Thomson products. For client training: [e-mail]; [phone])) ((For historical Argentine statistical data in Spanish, please see pages through)) Keywords: ARGENTINA ECONOMY/INFLATION (Xtra: To see a calendar of Argentine economic indicators please click on or type in ARECI02 on a quote page and press enter. For separate pages detailing Argentine analysts' economic forecasts, click on,, and) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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