The government announced on Tuesday that Argentina’s inflation rate has reached just under 100%, with savers suffering from some of the world’s fastest rising prices and workers’ budgets being squeezed as costs continue to outpace wages.

The South American nation, which has long struggled with rising prices, saw monthly inflation pick up in January to 6%, as predicted, while the annual figure reached 98.8%, the highest level since the 1990s’ hyperinflation.

Buenos Aires physician Gisella Saluzzo, 30, has had to cut expenses.

“The truth is that I live day to day, I look for low prices, I go to markets. We look for where the meat is cheaper, the vegetables are cheaper, and hunt for online promotions to get by,” she told Reuters.

The economy has been severely impacted by rampant inflation, causing the central bank to raise interest rates to a startling 75%. Prior to the October general elections, it has significantly eroded the popularity of President Alberto Fernandez’s center-left Peronist administration. Argentines are fed up with inflation, which many of them attribute to the government’s poor economic policy and money printing, and the conservative opposition currently leads in the polls.

The 33-year-old chiropractor Brian Muliane claimed that taxes and inflation made it difficult for his company to remain in operation.

“In our work, between paying for one thing and another, along with taxes, they’re drowning us,” he said. “There are many who can’t even work.”

Inflation reached 95% at the end of 2022, and despite government efforts to slow it, it may rise this year. Many people have been forced to reduce their luxury spending and alter their shopping habits.

“There are things that I’ve stopped buying because I say no, it is just impossible for it to increase like this,” said 50-year-old teacher Andrea Mendoza as she was out shopping. “So I don’t buy some things, I change habits or buy offers.”

(Adapted from FinancialPost.com)

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