Argentina is in the grip of inflation, which is expected to break the 100% annual barrier when authorities release data for February.

This will be the first time inflation has reached triple digits since the 1991 crisis.

Retiree Irene Devita knows the impact firsthand: an almost empty shopping bag and less food on the table.

At a street market in San Fernando, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the 74-year-old carefully counted her purchases, comparing prices, which change every week due to inflation, which on a monthly basis runs at 6% — one of the highest in the world .

“The other day I came and asked for three tangerines, two oranges, two bananas and half a kilo of tomatoes. When (the employee) told me it costs 650 pesos (3 euros), I told him to take everything out and leave only the tomatoes, because I didn’t have enough money,” he recounts. “There is no money, the people have nothing, so how to shop?»

Argentina’s government has tried in vain to contain rising prices, which have eroded citizens’ purchasing power and savings, shrunk the country’s economic growth and limited the ruling party’s chances of staying in power in the next election.

Inflation dominates the debate, causing frustration and anger among the people, as wages often fall short of the cost of goods, despite government measures to impose price ceilings and restrict grain exports to bolster the domestic market.

Patricia Quiroga, 50, says 100% inflation is unbearable as she waits patiently in line to do her shopping. “I’m tired of all this… of politicians fighting, while people are dying of hunger,” he told Reuters. “It doesn’t go any further,” he stresses desperately.