WireSeptember 26, 2024

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The official poverty rate in Argentina jumped to 52.9% during the first six months of

ALMUDENA CALATRAVA, Associated Press
Children eat a free, cooked meal outside a soup kitchen on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Children eat a free, cooked meal outside a soup kitchen on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Residential buildings are covered in color in Barrio 31, a working poor neighborhood in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Residential buildings are covered in color in Barrio 31, a working poor neighborhood in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rocio Costa watches her daughter Francesca try on shoes at a second-hand clothing fair alongside her other children Almendra and Tiziano in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Rocio Costa watches her daughter Francesca try on shoes at a second-hand clothing fair alongside her other children Almendra and Tiziano in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sofia Gonzalez Figueroa and her son Emanuel stand in line outside a soup kitchen for a free, hot meal, where they walked to from home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Sofia Gonzalez Figueroa and her son Emanuel stand in line outside a soup kitchen for a free, hot meal, where they walked to from home on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Eduardo Escoz prays at a church on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. Escoz said he pays about $50 a month for a room that he shares with two other people. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Eduardo Escoz prays at a church on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. Escoz said he pays about $50 a month for a room that he shares with two other people. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cintia Barros' son Alessandre sleeps on the ground as she begs on a street corner sidewalk in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Cintia Barros' son Alessandre sleeps on the ground as she begs on a street corner sidewalk in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Debora Paola Galluccio eats her one meal of the day from a community kitchen next to her partner Marcelo Díaz in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Debora Paola Galluccio eats her one meal of the day from a community kitchen next to her partner Marcelo Díaz in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Street vendor Miriam Sidimarco and her daughter Tiziana sit on a door's stoop, to eat a free, cooked meal near the soup kitchen where they received it on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Street vendor Miriam Sidimarco and her daughter Tiziana sit on a door's stoop, to eat a free, cooked meal near the soup kitchen where they received it on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Weekend security guard Leonardo Constantino stops to pose for a portrait as he walks home with food for his family that he received from a soup kitchen in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Weekend security guard Leonardo Constantino stops to pose for a portrait as he walks home with food for his family that he received from a soup kitchen in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lab tech Emilce Correa Louzao, who works at the state pediatric Hospital Garrahan, protests at the Heath Ministry demanding a salary raise in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Lab tech Emilce Correa Louzao, who works at the state pediatric Hospital Garrahan, protests at the Heath Ministry demanding a salary raise in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A child eats a free, hot meal on the curb of a soup kitchen on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
A child eats a free, hot meal on the curb of a soup kitchen on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
An elderly man pauses to smoke a cigarette as he sifts through garbage at a landfill in search of materials to sell in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
An elderly man pauses to smoke a cigarette as he sifts through garbage at a landfill in search of materials to sell in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
People get off the train, the cost of which is rising, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
People get off the train, the cost of which is rising, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tobias sits on the sidewalk next to public trash containers as his mother Elena Gonzeva sells handkerchiefs in the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Tobias sits on the sidewalk next to public trash containers as his mother Elena Gonzeva sells handkerchiefs in the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Veronica Vera, center, sells bread on the sidewalk in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Veronica Vera, center, sells bread on the sidewalk in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trash pickers Jose Oman Toledo and Hernan Cardozo eat lunch after cooking for a large group of fellow workers at the recycling plant where they retrieve sellable items in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Trash pickers Jose Oman Toledo and Hernan Cardozo eat lunch after cooking for a large group of fellow workers at the recycling plant where they retrieve sellable items in Lujan, Argentina, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A little girl clutches her pot outside a soup kitchen where she waits in line for her turn to collect a free, cooked meal to take home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
A little girl clutches her pot outside a soup kitchen where she waits in line for her turn to collect a free, cooked meal to take home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
A girl and her mother collect baked goods outside a bakery that gives away what they don't sell by the end of the day, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
A girl and her mother collect baked goods outside a bakery that gives away what they don't sell by the end of the day, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Children wait for a free, cooked meal at a soup kitchen on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Children wait for a free, cooked meal at a soup kitchen on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS
Felipe reaches through the door of a bakery where his parents Walter and Evelyn wait to take home discarded baked goods that the shop didn't sell in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Felipe reaches through the door of a bakery where his parents Walter and Evelyn wait to take home discarded baked goods that the shop didn't sell in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)ASSOCIATED PRESS

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The official poverty rate in Argentina jumped to 52.9% during the first six months of Javier Milei' s presidency, the government statistics agency reported Thursday, a rise from 41.7% that reflects the pain of Argentina's most intense austerity program in recent memory.

The government's finding that another 5.2 million people had so far slipped into poverty during Milei's short tenure marks a setback for the far-right economist even as foreign investors and the International Monetary Fundto which Argentina owes $43 billion — cheer his fiscal shock therapy.

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Bracing for negative news hours before the poverty report's release, Milei's spokesperson sought to deflect the blow in a lengthy press conference.

“The government inherited a disastrous situation,” Manuel Adorni told reporters, lambasting the decades of unbridled spending under Milei's left-leaning Peronist predecessors. “They left us on the brink of being a country with essentially all of its inhabitants poor.”

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