Argentine Poverty Reaches 45.4% When Price Weights Are Updated, According to a Recalculation Reported by Ámbito

Argentina's poverty rate reaches 45.4%, affecting 21.1 million people, when it is calculated with updated consumption weights, the Buenos Aires business daily Ámbito reported. Translated from Spanish, the report says the method yields about 6 million more poor people than the measure of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC). It would also put poverty above the level that Mauricio Macri left when his term ended. The estimate does not replace the official figure. It changes the weights given to goods and services in the cost-of-living basket, and those weights determine how far the poverty line has risen.

Consumption data points in the same direction. Argentina registered 177 motorcycles for every 100 cars in October, the highest ratio in a series that began in 2007, according to a report by the consultancy Analytica cited by Ámbito. The authors said no high-income country shows that pattern. Households that move from cars to motorcycles are spending less on transport, not more.

President Javier Milei's international position is also weaker. An op-ed in the Buenos Aires Times argues that a series of three election results abroad has gone against him, the latest being the US midterms, which weakened Donald Trump, Milei's closest foreign ally and a source of financial backing.