MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine government cancels releases on poverty and indigence

Under government stats poverty in Argentina comprises 4.7% of the population but for the Catholic university, 25%

Argentina's Statistics and Census Institute (Indec) postponed the release of figures from the so-called House Poll, which includes strategic information regarding poverty and indigence rates, officials from that entity confirmed on Wednesday afternoon.

 A press brief was planned in the morning to unveil indexes from the second semester of 2013, however the Economy Ministry press department refused to explain the reasons behind the postponement, as the official response was “no comments”.

This decision follows a previous one, where authorities from that ministry were supposed to announce the method through which Argentina’s Global Domestic Product is calculated.

The move is also in line with the suspension of announcements on prices included in the basic products index, used as a reference to establish the rates of poverty and indigence in the country.

Since the change in the methodology mechanisms employed by Indec, the poverty index became especially relevant particularly since January this year because the stats office ceased to report on the values of the Basic Food Basket and the Total Basic Basket, which are used to measure indigence and poverty.

The last food basket published from December 2013 suggested a family of four could satisfy its food requirements with 6 Argentine Pesos a day (about one US dollar at the time). But the release ceased when the new urban retail prices index was unveiled.

Under those estimates poverty in Argentina was in the range of 4.7% of the population, which could jump fourfold if the real value of food items which make up the basket are computed. Under the 'cared prices' index the food basket would be in the range of 690 Pesos which is 3.7 times the last December report.

A report from the Argentine Catholic University published last December 2013 estimated that poverty in Argentina is in the range of 25% of the population, equivalent to ten million people.