Argentina's opposition groups say the government of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner hides real inflationary trends in the country and plays down key statistical data.

The allegations come from four of the major opposition parties that took exception to a version of the Latin American country's economic performance put out by the Indec national statistical bureau.

None of the Indec statistics on inflation can be trusted, said the administration's opposition critics, all lawmakers from congress, in published comments.

The charge coincides with reports of chronic child employment and poverty and high incidence of joblessness and underemployment.

The lawmakers said the inflation rate in the country reached 1.5 percent in May based on analysis provided by eight economic consultants whose reading of the actual economic trends wasn't allowed to be aired. The lawmakers said they considered it their duty to inform the public of data which "the government tries to hide."

Based on those independent analyses, they said, the rate of inflation in Argentina over the last 12 months reached 23.5 percent. In a sarcastic reference to the official data suppliers, the lawmakers said the public could expect to hear from Indec the inflation rate was no more than "between 0.7 and 0.8" percent.

Lawmakers criticized Domestic Market Secretary Guillermo Moreno for presiding over the practice of underreporting economic trends in the country.

Retailers were often intimidated, sometimes at gunpoint, and forced to declare lower prices for consumer items, the lawmakers charged. There was no immediate government response to the allegation.

The lawmakers said their own data were collected by independent economic consultants, who had often faced government pressures and criticism of their methodologies because their research produced results markedly in contrast to data issued by the statistical bureau.

Some of the alternative data collectors were fined for daring to release information that challenged the government version, the lawmakers said.

Opposition critics have accused the government of destroying Indec's reputation by forcing it to release questionable data.

"Not content with the destruction of the official figures and a highly technical institution that was Indec, the government is now going after the private economic consultants," said Silvana Giudici, who leads a congressional commission on freedom of expression.

Lawmaker Gustavo Ferrari said the opposition group planned to release alternative statistics for Argentina's true economic conditions at least once a month.

Argentina's economic performance and issues of poverty and inequitable distribution of wealth have been major topics of dispute between the Fernandez administration and the opposition.

The Argentine Catholic University in a report said one-in-six Argentine children aged 5-17 was forced to work to help support the family.

An estimated 17.6 percent of children in that age group from the urban areas were forced to work, said the report.

Data from the second half of 2010 indicated that almost 8.2 percent of under-17 is involved in intensive domestic activities, such as looking after brothers and sisters, cooking and other domestic chores.

Another 12.3 percent of the children are self-employed or work to earn money for the family.

International Labor Organization figures showed unemployment in Latin America would remain around 7 percent this year after a little help from economic recovery.

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