Attachments
TIMELINE
December 2023: A new political party, La Libertad Avanza, takes power in Argentina. They issue a “Decree of Necessity and Urgency”, characterizing the state of the economy as "a situation of unprecedented gravity, generating deep imbalances, which have a negative impact on the entire population, especially in the social and economic areas".
Early April 2024: The Chamber of Deputies gives a majority opinion to the so-called "Bases Law" bill allowing the legislative process to move forward for the declaration of an economic emergency, ratifying this and other measures.
Mid-April 2024: The Humanitarian Observatory of the Argentine Red Cross prepares a detailed report that consolidates information from prestigious national and international entities, forming an analysis of the legal and juridical framework of the response by the National Society.
17 September 2024: IFRC allocates CHF 500,000 from the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the National Society. An Emergency Appeal is launched for CHF 3 million to support 20,000 people.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EVENT
Argentina is facing one of its most complex economic crises in recent years, with a rapid increase in the number of people living in poverty, limited access to health and food services, loss of jobs and difficulties in sustaining livelihoods, among others.
Inaugurated in December 2023, the new government declared an emergency for the economic, financial, administrative, social security, tariff, health and social realms with Decree of Necessity and Urgency No. 70/2023, in force until 31 December 2025. This measure highlighted a crisis of "unprecedented gravity" that “generates significant imbalances, negatively affecting the entire population, particularly in the social and economic areas”. A “Law of Bases” was then approved on 27 June, modifying the Declaration of Emergency to cover administrative, economic, financial and energy matters for a period of one year.
These first measures triggered some protests by the opposition and in various sectors by social organizations, and some by trade unions, including two general strikes.
This crisis has led to a notable increase in poverty and indigence especially affecting children and adolescents, more than 55 per cent of whom live below the poverty line. Access to fundamental services, such as health and education, has dropped, and this has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable.
Families, already severely strained by inflation that reached 289.4 per cent in April 2024, have suffered a sharp decline in purchasing power, leaving many households struggling to meet basic needs such as food and medical care. For poor households, the average family income is ARS 407,1711, yet the cost of the total basic basket is ARS 709,3182, a 42.6-percent shortfall.
These figures starkly illustrate the growing chasm between household incomes and the cost of essential goods, deepening the crisis. Compounding this situation, unemployment has now surged as well, and work conditions have become increasingly precarious, forcing many people to seek multiple jobs or rely on the informal economy to make ends meet.