MIGUEL LO BIANCO, of Reuters, reports from Buenos Aires…
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Reuters
Sandra Boluch, a fruit and vegetable seller in Buenos Aires, is seeing a worrying trend as inflation soars over 250 per cent: sliding sales and more people scavenging for what she throws away, hoping to find enough for a meal.
A man collects food from a container where discarded fruits and vegetables are deposited at the Mercado Central, the city’s largest wholesale central market, which receives produce from the entire country, as Argentines face a daily race for deals as inflation soars above 100 per cent, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 12th September, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Matias Baglietto/File photo
The South American country is going through its worst economic crisis in decades, with the new government of libertarian Javier Milei trying to slay triple-digit inflation with tough austerity, a move that is boosting the state’s finances, but is squeezing people hard.
“We have some containers in the back where the garbage is disposed of and when you go with a box, you see 20 people coming up to you to see what they can take as a plate of food to their table.”
– Sandra Boluch, a fruit and vegetable seller in Buenos Aires
A report last month suggested poverty was nearing 60 per cent from 40 per cent a year earlier, putting pressure on Milei’s reform plans and spending cuts to show quick results as anger simmers around the country and people tighten their belts trying to survive.
“We have some containers in the back where the garbage is disposed of and when you go with a box, you see 20 people coming up to you to see what they can take as a plate of food to their table,” said Boluch, adding it had happened before but she was now seeing many more people.
“The truth is that it’s something very tough, very sad because there are a lot of people and a lot of older people.”
Milei, battling an inherited crisis, has rolled out some tough measures to combat it, including painful cuts to state spending, targeting subsidies for things like utilities and transport, while looking to streamline welfare programs.
His government devalued the peso by over 50 per cent in December, which pushed up inflation further. Prices, even in dollar terms, have started to climb, with Argentines of all ilk feeling the pinch.
“It’s very severe,” added Boluch. “People are taking less amounts, their wallets are really hurting.”
A man pushes a cart at the Mercado Central, the city’s largest wholesale central market, which receives produce from the entire country, as Argentines face a daily race for deals as inflation soars above 100 per cent, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 12th September, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Matias Baglietto/File photo
Argentina’s monthly inflation rate slowed down more than expected to come in at 13.2 per cent in February, a boost for libertarian President Javier Milei who is pushing tough austerity to try to tame the world’s fastest-rising prices.
The still sky-high monthly rate, published on Tuesday, marks a deceleration from January, when prices rose 20.6 per cent, and December, when they were up 25.5 per cent. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected February’s inflation rate to land at around 15 per cent.
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The 12-month rate through February, however, rose to 276.2 per cent, below a poll forecast of 282.1 per cent, but cementing Argentina’s position as having the world’s worst inflation, which is hammering people’s spending power and driving up poverty.
Milei’s office on social media platform X said after the data was published that the slowdown was due to the government’s work to impose “strong fiscal discipline.” In a sign of confidence on inflation, the central bank late on Monday cut the interest rate to 80 per cent.
However, Milei has said March could be “complicated”, and signals in the economy have looked bleak, with tumbling sales, activity and production, even as the austerity measures have squeezed pensions, state salaries and public investment.
“The impact of the cost of food is just brutal,” said Ines Ambrosini, a 62-year-old who tries to shop in wholesale markets to find deals.
“Everything costs a lot of money, the food, the fruit, the vegetables, the meat, the dairy products. Coming to these markets helps you take care of your wallet a little more.”
– With JORGE OTAOLA
