Argentines stage nationwide protest against new round of Macri tariff hikes

Protesters in Argentina crowded intersections around metro Buenos Aires and cities across the country Friday night to protest the latest round of utility and transport rate hikes decreed by President Mauricio Macri.

The right-wing Macri administration had announced on December 27 that authorized rates would jump on services across the board - with more hikes due later in 2019.

In Buenos Aires these will reach 33% on tollways, 35% on gas, 38% on public transport, and 55% on electricity - in a country going through its sharpest recession since the 2001-02 collapse, and with almost 50% inflation this year (the highest since 1991).

Construction fell 15.9% in November from a year ago, and manufacturing by 13.3% - the sharpest drop in the world.

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Rates since late 2015, when Macri took office, are now up 332% for tollways; 500% for public transport; 515% for water; 2136% for electricity; and 3008% for gas.

The hikes have also drawn accusations of self-dealing against Macri, whose family are significant shareholders in Argentina's 2nd-largest electric company and its largest tollway operator.

"People need to know the motives behind this," City Legislator Leandro Santoro, a Macri opponent and academic, said.

"First, there's the IMF's demands that utility and transport subsidies end."

"Second, they want utility firms to earn even more profits than they've been doing already. This is why rates have been dollarized, while our salaries remain in (devalued) pesos."

"And third, there's inflation itself."

Overall prices have risen nearly 170% since late 2015. Real wages have meanwhile dropped by around 18%.

Macri had run largely on beating inflation - already running at 25% annually under his center-left predecessor, Cristina Kirchner.

"It's the easiest thing," he boasted during the 2015 campaign. "Inflation is a sign of government incompetence, and with us it won't be an issue."

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Argentines protest new utility and transport rate hikes averaging around 50% - bringing total rate hikes to up to 3000% since Macri took office.

Seen here are protesters in the Buenos Aires intersection of Callao and Santa Fe Avenues - in the heart of the city's upscale Recoleta district.

Recoleta voters gave Macri 79% of their vote in 2015, and 66% in the 2017 midterms.