The macroeconomic situation in Argentina is slowly improving, but the social situation remains dramatic. Inflation is declining, public accounts have improved, and gross domestic product is expected to return to growth in 2025, However, poverty remains very high.
President Milei, of the far-right La Libertad Avanza (LLA) party, began his term with a very ambitious plan for both macroeconomic stabilization and GDP growth revival.
>In the short term, the primary objective was to create the conditions for reducing inflation, mainly with measures aimed at eliminating the public budget deficit.
>In the short term, the primary objective was to create the conditions for reducing inflation, mainly with measures aimed at eliminating the public budget deficit.

>>1363128
>In the medium term, the government's hope is that numerous pro-market reforms, privatizations, and deregulation will stimulate productive investments and favor the recovery of economic activity.
Milei rose to power declaring that "there is no money". Armed with a chainsaw, he won the presidential elections promising to reduce the size of the state to the bare minimum and to zero the public deficit, with cuts affecting the entire state administration, except for the ministries of Defense and Security.
Since December 10, 2023 – the day he was sworn in as president – Milei has closed 13 ministries and fired (or not renewed the employment contracts of) about 30,000 public employees, the equivalent of almost 10% of the federal workforce. He also froze public works and reduced funds for education, healthcare, scientific research, and pensions. Pensions have been particularly hit by the cuts.

>>1363129
he administration has also reduced aid to soup kitchens and cut welfare programs.
Impacts of Austerity Measures
> Poverty has increased dramatically, reaching its highest level in the last twenty years. According to INDEC, the national statistics institute, the poverty rate in Argentina rose to 52.9% in the first six months of Milei's presidency, an increase of almost 12 percentage points compared to the previous semester.
>The increase in incomes has not been enough to offset the high growth in the cost of the basket of basic necessities, both food and non-food, with the consequent reduction in their purchasing power. On average, the population has lost about 12% of purchasing power in the period between the second quarter of 2023 and the second quarter of 2024.

>>1363131
> This decline, however, has not been homogeneous among the different income groups of the population, For the richest 20%, the decline in real incomes was less than the average, while the poorest 20% suffered the most significant decline, As a result, during the period under consideration, inequality (measured by the Gini index) in income distribution increased.

>>1363127
>libertarians are far-right
you have no credibility

>>1363132
>Public healthcare is also under severe pressure
In addition to budget cuts, especially to the salaries of hospital workers who depend on the federal government, there has been an increase in demand for services. In fact, the increase in the price of private health insurance after liberalization has pushed many Argentinians to turn to public assistance.
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The education sector, which has lost its status as a ministry and has instead become a secretariat, has seen a reduction in resources which – according to various estimates – has been about 50% year-on-year. The Milei administration eliminated the National Fund for the Incentive of Teachers, suspended infrastructural interventions in schools, and drastically cut scholarship programs for students. Since provincial governments are responsible for primary and secondary education, the fiscal adjustment mainly affected public universities, which depend on the federal government.

>>1363134
>>1363133
Milei eliminated the Ministry of Women and also closed the Undersecretariat for Protection against Gender Violence, despite femicides being a national scourge. His administration has reduced measures aimed at helping women who suffer abuse, from helplines for victims of gender violence to economic support programs for victims of domestic violence. Milei likely decided on these cuts not only to reduce the budget deficit but also because of his ideological position. Recently, Argentina was the only G20 member state not to sign the "Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women" document proposed by Brazil, as the current president of the G20.
Structural Problems and Public Opinion

>>1363135
>Poverty, which has now reached very high levels, has never fallen below 25% in the last 40 years
A recent World Bank report identifies four factors that have hindered its reduction.
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First, high inflation particularly affects poorer families, who spend a larger share of their income on food and basic products.
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Second, much of the Argentine population works in the informal sector or as self-employed, with often precarious and poorly paid jobs.
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Third, although poverty is higher among children and young people, social spending is oriented towards the elderly population.
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Finally, extreme weather events, such as droughts and floods, disproportionately affect the most vulnerable population.
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With economic stabilization and inflation reduction, the Milei administration is taking an important step towards poverty reduction. However, fiscal consolidation is not protecting the weakest and cuts in spending on education and healthcare risk preventing the formation of better human capital, which would allow Argentines to move from the informal to the formal sector.
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For the first time since he took office last December, Argentines who disapprove of the Milei presidency outnumber those who see it favorably. However, Milei remains the most popular among Argentine politicians.
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With less tax revenue, the government would likely make further cuts to public spending on healthcare and education and to infrastructure investments. These measures could therefore compromise growth potential in the medium term and make an increase in inequality highly likely.

>>1363127
>ultra-liberal policy of the leader is having heavy repercussions on the weakest sections of the population.
A story as old as time, really

>>1363133
>lolbertarians aren't far-right
you have no idea what you're talking about

>>1363127
We have to see where this goes. It could be growing pains trying to get out of their hyperinflation, or it could be the start of Argentina being in perpetual poverty

>>1363137
you try to improve your life
>it hurts at first
losers give up and go back to old bad lifestyle

>>1363153
>>old bad lifestyle. Aka rich get richer

>>1363153
Obviously getting out of massive hyperinflation is going to have growing pains. The problem is poverty tends to be self perpetuating and what he's cut are the programs meant to help people out of poverty.

We'll have to see how this goes. Hopefully once their inflation is like, manageable they'll be able to start pulling people back up or at least give them the opprotunity to do so themselves.

>>1363160
>programs meant to help people out of poverty.
Government can't spend its way out of poverty, friend.

>>1363226
Obviously not but the problem is you need to get those poverty numbers down eventually.

>non-American shill posts a random Italian article about a spanish speaking country
Really gotta go out of your way to get the shittiest of the shittiest?
OP is a faggot

>>1363226
The United States of America literally spent it's way out of the great depression and brought the western world unparalleled prosperity for 20 years after the war on the back of massive marginal tax rates on the ultra wealthy as well as strong regulation of major industries.

>>1363226
What was the tax rate for the highest eaners in the US during the 1950s? And what was the administration then: Democrat or Republican?