Argentina poverty rate soars over 50% as Milei austerity bites

Lourdes Milagro Gonza, 23, sits at the table to share lunch with her daughter, Ashley, with rations of stew that her family prepared and handed to help her with the costs of living, at her home in a settlement in Salta, Argentina September 12, 2024. REUTERS/Javier Corbalan

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -Argentina's poverty rate soared to almost 53% in the first half of the year, official data released on Thursday showed, the first hard evidence of the painful impact of libertarian President Javier Milei's tough austerity measures.

That marked a steep jump from 41.7% at the end of last year and more than double the 26% just seven years ago, underscoring the severe cost to regular Argentines of repeated economic crises that have hammered the South American nation.