The cost of a basic food basket in the Greater Buenos Aires Area increased by 7.1% in July, according to a report by the National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC) released on Wednesday. That means that a family of four needed AR$111,642 (US$305 at the official rate, US$170 at the MEP dollar rate) that month not to be considered destitute.

The INDEC considers a family “destitute” when their monthly income is less than the basic food basket. A family is considered to be in poverty if they earn less than the basic food basket plus services, known as the total basic basket. The INDEC reported that the poverty threshold for July also increased by 7.1% and is now at AR$248,962.

The year-on-year increase for the basic and total food baskets was 126% and 124% respectively.

According to INDEC’s latest poverty figures, corresponding to the second semester of 2022, 39.2% of Argentines were poor and 8.1% were destitute —  the numbers represent a 3.3% increase in poverty compared to the first semester of 2022, and a 0.7% increase in destitution numbers.

This new report comes two days after the INDEC published the inflation rate for the month of July, which reached 6.3% and a year-on-year value of 113.4%. Following the surprise results of Sunday’s primaries and the ensuing devaluation of the peso, consulting firms are expecting August’s inflation rate to hit double digits. 

The government announced a new “price renegotiation unit” this week in a bid to tackle the potential new wave of inflation — one of the strategies is to implement a new price agreement program that would put a cap on certain consumer goods prices.