Argentina’s poverty rate rose to 57.4% of the population in January, the highest level in at least 20 years, local media reported on Sunday, citing a report by the Argentine Social Debt Observatory at the Argentine Catholic University (UCA).
According to the report, the devaluation implemented by President Javier Milei after his inauguration in December and the resulting increase in the prices of the basic basket have exacerbated poverty, which reached 49.5% of the population in the last month of 2023. Destitute levels rose to 15% in January from 14.2% in December, the media added.
“The true legacy of the caste model: 6 out of 10 Argentines are poor. The destruction of the last hundred years has no parallel in the history of the West,” said Milei on Saturday evening on his account on the social network X, in which he published the article on the subject in the newspaper Ámbito Financiero.
Milei, a libertarian economist, took the presidency promising to dollarize the economy, end inflation of more than 200% a year, eliminate the budget deficit and curtail the privileges of the politicians he calls “caste.”
After his inauguration, the government promoted a 54.2% devaluation of the national currency, rising from 350 pesos per dollar to 830 pesos, which plunged Argentines’ income and led to a significant increase in prices.
On the other hand, the government advocated a drastic cut in public spending, including cutting energy and transport subsidies and increasing taxes, to achieve a balanced budget this year.
On Friday, the Economy Ministry reported that the country posted a financial surplus of 518,408 million pesos ($620.7 million) in January, which includes debt repayments. This is the first time since August 2012 that Argentina reported this number positive. The primary election result was a surplus of 2.01 trillion pesos.
“Politicians must understand that the people voted for change and that we will give our lives to promote it,” Milei said. “We have not come to play the mediocre game of politics. We have come to change the country.”
Also read: Argentina posts its first monthly budget surplus in more than a decade
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