Argentina's poverty levels hit 20-year-high in January, says a private study

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Poverty levels in Argentina skyrocketed to 57.4% in January, the highest rate in 20 years, according to a study by the Catholic University of Argentina released over the weekend. HT Image The study quickly unleashed a series of 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. Milei, an ultra-liberal economist who is implementing a series of shock measures, including a sharp reduction in public spending, said that the fact that “six out of every 10 Argentines are poor” constitutes “the true inheritance of the caste model,” which is what he calls the political class who has governed Argentina for the last 20 years. 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