Argentina tackles sky‑high inflation, but challenges remain
Argentina, grappling with a financial crisis, closed the year 2024 with inflation at nearly 118%, significantly lower than the previous year, according to official data. The government expressed satisfaction and emphasized that this was the result of its economic "stabilization plan."
According to data from the national statistics agency INDEC, monthly inflation in December was 2.7%, while annual inflation for the entire year 2024 was 117.8%. The previous year, Argentina concluded with a rate of 211.4%.
"In just 12 months we pulverized inflation"
"In just 12 months we pulverized inflation," the Argentine Ministry of Economy wrote on its social media account.
The head of the ministry, Luis Caputo, stated that December inflation was the lowest for that month since 2018, which he considered "the continuity of the disinflation process." The rate of price increases had been consistently declining since April, when it reached nearly 300% annually.
Inaugurated in December 2023, Argentina's libertarian president, Javier Milei, is implementing a belt-tightening program and "chainsaw" cuts to public spending in an effort to steer the country out of the crisis. This policy contributed to the decrease in inflation, but the financial situation of many families worsened, with the poverty rate exceeding 50%.
"People say inflation is going down, but here we always receive merchandise with different prices, it goes up and up," said 77-year-old retiree Juan Carlos Gonzalez to Reuters, who works selling vegetables to boost his pension income.
