Argentina’s poverty levels hit 57% of population, a 20-year high in January, study finds

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Poverty levels skyrocketed to 57.4% of Argentina’s 46 million people in January, the highest rate in 20 years, according to a study by the Catholic University of Argentina. The findings quickly unleashed accusations between Argentina’s former Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the government of President Javier Milei, who came to power announcing a series of shock measures aimed at tackling the country’s severe crisis. The UCA’s social debt observatory is considered an independent and prestigious research space whose reports on poverty cover a larger geographical area than those conducted by Argentina’s national statistics agency, INDEC. She said that, starting in 2018, “with a debt in dollars and the return of the IMF, we went backwards.” The reality presented by the study, Fernández de Kirchner said, “shows that today we are worse off than in 2004.” The government responded to Fernández de Kirchner asking her to “be silent.” Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said Monday during his daily press conference, that the former president is “one of the most relevant figures in the last 20 years of Argentina’s decline.” ____ Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america