The current economic situation in Argentina is dire: Year-over-year inflation is at 115 percent, and the peso is under constant depreciation. The unemployment rate sits at 7 percent, while almost 40 percent of the country’s population lives in poverty. Soup kitchens and community centers are overwhelmed with demand from working families who, although formally employed, nevertheless need aid to feed their children. Meanwhile, Argentina owes $44 billion to the International Monetary Fund, which in 2018 handed the country the biggest loan package the lending institution had ever given. This has cast a shadow on the country’s future. In addition to imposing payment deadlines of billions of dollars despite the country’s low central bank reserves, the economic program mandated by the IMF aims to cut down on spending, including welfare funding, nationwide.
Lucía Cholakian Herrera
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