The annual inflation rate in Argentina rose to 254.2% on Wednesday. In January, prices in the South American country, which has been hit by a severe economic crisis, rose by 20.6%, the national statistics authority Indec announced in Buenos Aires. The cost of personal care products, transport and communication in particular rose sharply. 2024 thus began with the highest inflation rate in Argentina since the hyperinflation of 1991. Inflation in Argentina is one of the highest in the world. South America’s second-largest economy suffers from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity…