Greater than half of Argentina’s 46 million individuals at the moment are residing in poverty, new figures point out, in a blow to right-wing President Javier Milei’s efforts to show across the nation’s beleaguered financial system.
The poverty determine for the primary six months of this yr was 52.9%, up from 41.7% within the second half of 2023, stated the nation’s Indec statistics company.
Since taking workplace in December, Milei has slashed subsidies for transport, gas and vitality and sacked hundreds of civil servants, as he seeks to deliver down inflation and cut back authorities expenditure.
Argentina’s annual inflation price in August remained one of many highest on the earth at greater than 230%.
Nonetheless, Milei has efficiently curbed rampant authorities overspending, broadly blamed for the nation’s financial woes. After years of racking up enormous finances deficits, Argentina has seen fiscal surpluses each month since February.
Talking at a information convention, authorities spokesperson Manuel Adorni blamed earlier left-leaning Peronist governments for the present troubles.
He described the rise in poverty as “a consequence of the populism that has subjected Argentina to so a few years of misfortune and devastation”.
“The federal government inherited a disastrous state of affairs, the worst inheritance {that a} authorities has obtained in a democracy, maybe one of many worst {that a} authorities has obtained in historical past,” he added.
Poverty was already on the rise in Argentina earlier than the Milei authorities took workplace. As not too long ago as 2017, solely a few quarter of the inhabitants have been affected.
When Milei assumed the presidency, he promised shock remedy, devaluing the peso by 50% and slicing the variety of authorities ministries by half.
However the president faces sturdy opposition, together with from commerce unions, who’ve repeatedly taken to the streets in protest at his programme and its impact on staff’ rights.
Including to his difficulties, his La Libertad Avanza coalition (Freedom Advances) doesn’t command a majority within the Argentine Congress and has discovered it laborious to strike cross-party offers.
Peronist lawmakers have been fast to assault the figures, with one lawmaker – Victoria Tolosa Paz – accusing the federal government of pursuing “relentless austerity” insurance policies which she stated have been “battering working households”.
Whereas Milei’s approval score fell between August and September to 40%, his authorities stays comparatively fashionable with Argentinians at 53%, in accordance with in accordance with pollster Poliarquía.
