Argentina sees steep climb in poverty due to coronavirus

In the 31 large cities studied, the poverty rate rose from 40.9 percent to 42 percent within a year, official data shows.

The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has worsened poverty in Argentina, with some 12 million people in urban areas unable to afford a basket of basic food or essential services in the second half of 2020, official data showed on Wednesday. In the 31 large cities that were studied, the country’s poverty rate rose from 40.9 percent in the first half of the year to 42 percent in the second, according to the National Institute of Statistics. This represented a steep climb of 6.5 percentage points from the last six months of 2019.