BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) 鈥 One of the world鈥檚 highest inflation rates is making it more difficult to make ends meet in Argentina, where at the end of last year nearly four of every 10 people were poor, official figures revealed Thursday.
Poverty increased to 39.2% of the population in the second half of 2022, a three percentage point increase from the first six months of the year, said Argentina鈥檚 national statistics agency, INDEC. Among children under age 15, the poverty rate increased more than three percentage points to 54.2%.
In a poor neighborhood in Argentina鈥檚 capital, those who run a soup kitchen don鈥檛 need the statistics to tell them what they have been seeing amid an economy wracked by inflation that reached 94.8% last year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 more poverty than before,鈥 said Graciela Gamarra, who runs the soup kitchen in the Fraga district that hands out more than 800 portions of food every weekday afternoon.
鈥淎fter the pandemic, everything got worse," she said. "Most have precarious jobs, they don鈥檛 have fixed employment to say that they鈥檙e sure about how much they鈥檒l make each month.鈥
Rosa Guerrera, 76, was one of the people who went to the soup kitchen with her plastic container to get food on a recent afternoon.
鈥淚f it weren鈥檛 for the soup kitchen, what would become of me?鈥 Guerrera said, noting that more people from outside the neighborhood had been arriving recently to ask for food.
Experts say inflation has hit lower middle class families particularly hard as the price of food has increased more than other items.
鈥淚f the inflationary question isn鈥檛 resolved, it will be very difficult to recover purchasing power and lower the poverty level,鈥 said Eduardo Donza, a researcher at the Social Debt Observatory at Catholic University of Argentina.
Even if inflation were to magically disappear, though, 鈥渋t wouldn鈥檛 be enough, because the poverty level is associated with a very precarious job market,鈥 Donza added.
The percentage of Argentina's population considered destitute 鈥 those whose income won't even cover basic, minimal food needs 鈥 decreased slightly to 8.1% from 8.8%.
The decline was largely due to welfare programs, without which the destitution rate would be around 18%, Donza estimated.
The government's efforts to cool inflation have been made even more difficult by a devastating drought that has increased costs even further. The annual rate of inflation rose above 100% in February.
Although the poverty rate has decreased slightly from 42% in the second half of 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will undoubtedly be one of the main issues in the presidential campaign ahead of October elections. President Alberto Fern谩ndez has still not said whether he will seek reelection.
Members of the opposition were quick to criticize the government when the latest poverty figures came out.
鈥淢ore than 18 million Argentines are poor,鈥 former Buenos Aires Gov. Mar铆a Eugenia Vidal wrote on Twitter. 鈥淎nd you know what the worst part is? This information is already outdated. The situation in 2023 is even more serious.鈥
For now, many Argentines don't have much faith that things could improve, even with new leadership.
鈥淎ll the politicians promise, promise, and once they鈥檙e there, they don鈥檛 see you, they don鈥檛 listen to you,鈥 said Gamarra, at the soup kitchen. 鈥淢ost people here think the same way 鈥 just promises they don鈥檛 fulfill.鈥
