Why did inflation targeting fail in Argentina?

•Inflation targeting was implemented and failed in Argentina in 2016.•Inflation targeting suffered from implementation inconsistencies.•A negative credibility shock accelerated the loss of control of the inflation targeting regime. Argentina’s experience with inflation targeting started in 2016 and ended in 2018, lasting a total of only 25 months. In this paper, we study the reasons why this monetary regime failed in Argentina. We argue that the main reason for its failure was an internal inconsistency in how the central bank implemented inflation targeting, and a negative credibility shock accelerated that said inconsistency in December 2017.