“The true legacy of the caste model: six out of ten Argentines are poor. “The destruction (of the economy) over the last hundred years has no equivalent in the history of the West,” the social network launched this Saturday evening
The green price of the model of the Casta: 6 out of 10 Argentinos is lower. The destruction of the last is nothing other than the history of the West.
Politicians want to hear that the people voted for change and that we will live lives for lives… https://t.co/pdoAEZqBjN
— Javier Milei (@JMilei) February 18, 2024
This was after she learned of the poverty figures provided by the Social Debt Observatory of the Argentine Catholic University (UCA). The study, originally published in the newspaper mbito Financiero, estimates the proportion of Argentines living below the poverty line at 57.4%, or more than 26 million people.
However, in statements to the morning newspaper La Nación on Sunday, the director of the observatory, Agustín Salvia, explained that this report was “a statistical simulation” based on the data of “the third quarter” of 2023. “I don’t think we are very far from the current reality,” he added.
According to this study, in January 15% of the population lives in poverty, that is, almost seven million people, according to the statements of this specialist reproduced in Ambito Financiero.
These statistics show a jump during Mr Milei's first full month in his new role if we compare them to the 49% of poor and 14% of people fallen into poverty that the UCA recorded in December, against the backdrop of significant fiscal adjustments the executive branch.
Record inflation
It is also the highest value achieved by this private organization in the last 22 years. “If inflation slows down, there will be a rapid easing (of this situation). Otherwise we face a social catastrophe,” warned Mr. Salvia in La Nación.
After a 50% devaluation of the national currency, the peso, the liberalization of prices and their sharp increases, inflation in January reached 20.6% in Argentina and over 12 months it was 254.2%.
The year 2023, the last of the government of Alberto Fernández (center left), ended with an inflation rate of 211%, of which 25.5% for the month of December alone.
Official poverty data to date show that 45% of Argentines are unable to meet their basic needs. For his part, Mr. Milei expects the economy to recover in about three months.