New alarming data from the Argentine economic news. The gradual deterioration of purchasing power led to, according to statistics from the INDEChe formal average salary do not reach the line poverty in January 2024, since it cannot cover the value of a basic basket.
The report from the Government statistics agency indicated that a basic basket reached $596,823 in the first month of the yearwhich represents the total expenses that a family of four must make to cover all the needs considered elementary over the course of a month.
In comparison, the Average Taxable Remuneration of Stable Workers (RIPTE)measured by the Labor Secretary government, was established in $555,269more of $41,000 below the value of the basic basket. The RIPTE refers to the average number of stable formal employees in the country.
The analysis reaches a more negative connotation contemplating that the RIPTE expresses gross salaries, before discounts for employer and pension contributions. In this framework, and if the 17% corresponding to social charges is deducted, the average net out-of-pocket salary of a formal worker reaches $460,873which does not even cover the basic basket of three people, whose estimated value is $475,140.
Argentine economy: multiple employment and deterioration in consumption
In Argentina, almost three million people who have a job are actively looking for another, either to replace the one they have or to add a second source of income. “It is a very complicated scenario, because It depresses consumption and tends to enhance recession. It also makes social and political time tick for what the Government wants to do,” he analyzed. Camilo Tiscorniadirector of C&T Economic Advisors.
In that sense, he maintained that “what we are experiencing is the worst moment. There is a very rapid increase in prices that income has not been able to keep up with, but little by little they will be recomposed. “Everything will be subject to whether the economic policy framework can be maintained over time.”
For Camilo Tiscornia, fiscal discipline “will give rise to a lower interest rate, which will help contain inflation“There is the source that little by little the economy is recovering and with it the income,” he concluded.
Poverty in Argentina rose to 57.4% in January 2024
According to him Social Observatory of the Catholic University (UCA)he 57.4% of Argentines were below the poverty line in January 2024. In this context, the president Javier Milei He noted in an interview this Friday that the situation will deepen in the coming months: “The hardest time will be between March and April.”
The devaluation and subsequent rise in prices of basic basket products was one of the main points that led to this index, according to the report titled “Estimation of the effects of the post-devaluation Inflationary Impact. Scenario for December 2023 and January 2024“. It is estimated that about 27 million people are poor in Argentina.
At the same time, the study recorded an exponential growth in the situation of indigence from the country. In the third quarter of 2023, this index was 9.6%, which became 14.2% in December and reached 15% last Januarywhich would represent 7 million people. The increase is consistent with poverty figures: from 44.7% in the third quarter of last year, it rose to 49.5% in December and 57.4% in the last month. It’s about the highest figure since the UCA Social Observatory recorded povertyin 2004.
The data contemplated that, for January, the poverty basket in the AMBA for an adult person was $193,146 and for one typical family of $596,823, without considering the rent. The latest official data of the INDECcorresponding to first half of 2023threw a 40.1% poverty. The situation as of December will be known on March 27.
Source: Ambito
