Argentina's poverty crisis deepens under President Milei's policies
According to data released on Thursday by the national statistics institute INDEC, Argentina's poverty rate increased from nearly 42 percent to nearly 53 percent in the first six months of President Javier Milei's economic shock therapy.
7:48 AM EDT, September 27, 2024
This means that by the end of the first half of 2024, nearly 25 million Argentinians were living below the poverty line, and 3.4 million people fell into this category this year. These are the worst numbers in 20 years.
According to the latest data, as much as 18.1 percent of society, or about 8.5 million people, were in extreme poverty, meaning they did not earn enough to meet basic food needs.
The figures that hurt the most are the poverty rates among children, noted the Infobae portal. According to INDEC data, as many as 66.1 percent of children in Argentina live below the poverty line, and 27 percent are starving because their families cannot afford food.
Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni blamed the previous leftist administration for this state of affairs.
The government inherited a catastrophic situation; it's the worst decline received by a government during the democratic era, and possibly one of the worst in history, he said.
Austerity program. Approval ratings dropping
Since taking office in December 2023, President Milei has been implementing an austerity program and "chainsaw-cutting" public spending to restore budget balance after years of crisis and control inflation, which reached nearly 300 percent year-on-year in April.
The shock therapy helped close the budget deficit but deepened the recession and worsened the financial situation of many families. Recent surveys show that Milei's approval ratings, which hovered around 50 percent at the beginning of his presidency, are starting to decline.
