The South American country, which has been struggling with rising prices for years, recorded annual inflation of 98.8 percent.
Argentina’s inflation rate has barely reached 100 percent, the government said on Tuesday, with savers feeling more pain from some of the world’s fastest-rising prices and workers’ budgets strained as costs outpace wages.
The South American country, which has struggled with rising prices for years, saw monthly inflation accelerate to 6 percent in January, in line with forecasts, while the annual figure reached 98.8 percent, the highest since hyperinflation in the 1990s.
Gisella Saluzzo (30), a doctor in Buenos Aires, had to tighten her belt.
“The truth is that I live day by day, I look for low prices, I go to the markets. We are looking for where meat is cheaper, vegetables are cheaper and we are looking for online promotions to get by,” she told the Reuters news agency.
Rampant inflation hit the economy, forcing the central bank to raise interest rates to a whopping 75 percent. He took a big bite out of the popularity of the center-left Peronist government of President Alberto Fernandez ahead of October’s general election. The conservative opposition is now leading the polls as Argentines are fed up with inflation and many blame poor economic management and the government’s printing of money.
Brian Muliane, a 33-year-old chiropractor, said his business was struggling to survive between inflation and taxes.
“In our business, between paying one thing and another, along with taxes, they’re choking us,” he said. “There are many who cannot even work.”
Inflation ended at 95 percent in 2022 and could accelerate further this year despite government measures to combat it. Many were forced to change their shopping habits and cut back on luxury.
“There are things I’ve stopped buying because I say no, it’s just impossible for it to increase like this,” said 50-year-old teacher Andrea Mendoza while shopping. “So I’m not buying things, changing habits or buying deals.”