Poverty rises to over 52 percent in Milei's Argentina

Poverty in Argentina rose to over 52 percent of the population in the first six months of self-declared "anarcho-capitalist" Javier Milei's presidency, according to data released Thursday by the INDEC statistics agency.

The report for the first half of 2024 showed that 52.9 percent of Argentines, or 15.7 million people, now live in poverty and nearly one in five are indigent.

The figure was up from 41.7 percent in the second half of 2023.

Since taking office in December, Milei's government has applied a drastic austerity program with the aim of eliminating the budget deficit and taming chronic inflation.

It has slashed subsidies for transport, fuel and energy, even as thousands of public servants lost their jobs.

Monthly inflation in Argentina fell to 4.0 percent in July, the lowest in 2.5 years, but the annual figure of 263.4 percent remains one of the highest in the world.

In December, when Milei took office, monthly inflation leapt by 25.5 percent after he devalued the peso by more than 50 percent.

The move, in addition to severe budget cuts, strangled purchasing power.

In January, the government reported its first monthly budget surplus in nearly 12 years.

But critics say Milei's few wins have come at the cost of the poor and working classes.