Associated Press
Argentina’s monthly inflation rate eased sharply to a single-digit rate in April for the first time in half a year, data released Tuesday showed, a closely watched indicator that bolsters President Javier Milei’s severe austerity program aimed at fixing the country’s troubled economy. Prices rose at a rate of 8.8% last month, the Argentine government statistics agency reported, down from a monthly rate of 11% in March and well below a peak of 25% last December, when Milei became president with a mission to combat Argentina’s dizzying inflation, among the highest in the world. Although praised by the International Monetary Fund and cheered by market watchers, Milei’s cost-cutting campaign and deregulation have in the short term been squeezing families whose money has plummeted in value while the cost of nearly everything has skyrocketed.