Argentina’s poverty rate soared to almost 53% in the first half of the year, official data released on Thursday showed, the first hard evidence of the painful impact of libertarian President Javier Milei’s tough austerity measures.

Argentina's poverty rate soared to almost 53% in the first half of the year, official data released on Thursday showed, the first hard evidence of the painful impact of libertarian President Javier Milei's tough austerity measures.

The poverty figure for the first six months of this year was 52.9%, up from 41.7% in the second half of 2023, said the country's Indec statistics agency. Since taking office in December, Milei has slashed subsidies for transport,

Argentina’s poverty rate has surged to 52.9 per cent under its government’s austerity programme, in a warning sign for libertarian President Javier Milei as his popularity falters. The rate, published by the national statistics agency on Thursday,

Official report says Argentina's poverty rate has spiked to 53% in first six months of austerity under President Milei

The government's finding that another 5.2 million people had so far slipped into poverty during Milei's short tenure marks a setback for the far-right economist even as foreign investors and the International Monetary Fund — to which Argentina owes $43 billion — cheer his fiscal shock therapy.