Buenos Aires (AFP) – Argentina’s poverty levels fell sharply in the second half of 2024 after leaping during the first months of Javier Milei’s presidency, official figures showed Monday. The proportion of the population living in poverty fell to 38.1 percent between June and December, down 14.8 points from the first half of 2024, the Indec statistics agency announced.
The figures represent a dramatic improvement for the libertarian Milei, whose draconian austerity policies were blamed for driving up the poverty rate to 52.9 percent of the population in the first six months of 2024. The second half of the year saw the proportion of Argentina’s 47 million people living in extreme poverty plummet, down to 8.2 percent in the second half of 2024 from 18.1 percent in the previous period.
Milei’s office said the improvement was “a direct effect of the fight against inflation…in addition to macroeconomic stability and the elimination of restrictions that for years limited the economic potential of Argentines.” Annual inflation fell from 211 percent in 2023 to 118 percent last year.
Milei’s deep spending cuts — he made thousands of public servants redundant, froze public works, and cut transport and energy subsidies after taking office in December 2023 — also produced Argentina’s first budget surplus in 14 years.
But pensioners say they are much worse off than before, and consumer spending has been declining for 15 consecutive months. Indec defines poor as “households…that do not have sufficient income to purchase a basic food basket,” which was worth 342,370 pesos ($313 at the official exchange rate) in February.
© 2024 AFP
