BUENOS AIRES, SEPT 27 – Poverty in Argentina has increased, affecting more than 52 percent of the population in the first six months of Javier Milei’s self-proclaimed ‘anarcho-capitalist’ presidency, according to official data released yesterday.
The report for the first half of 2024 shows that 52.9 percent of Argentina’s 47 million people are currently living in poverty and nearly one in five are indigent.
The poverty figure increased from 41.7 percent in the second half of 2023, according to statistics agency INDEC.
Since taking office in December, Milei’s government has implemented a drastic austerity program aimed at eliminating the budget deficit and controlling chronic inflation.
The government has cut subsidies for transportation, fuel, and energy, even as thousands of civil servants lose their jobs.
Monthly inflation in Argentina was 4.0 percent in July, which was the lowest rate in 2.5 years, before rising again to 4.2 percent in August. The annual figure of 236.7 percent in August remains among the highest in the world.
In December, when Milei took office, monthly inflation jumped by 25.5 percent after he devalued the peso by more than 50 percent. That move, along with significant budget cuts, affected people’s purchasing power.
In January, the government reported a monthly budget surplus, the first in nearly 12 years. – AFP
