Argentines in arrears: 1 in every 4 families cannot pay their debts

Earlier this month, Argentina’s Central Bank informed that the percentage of citizens in arrears reached its highest peak in 20 years: 12.1 percent in April. 

The Instituto Argentina Grande think tank has prepared a document going beyond the concrete numbers – according to its analysis, one in every four families is not only in debt, but cannot pay the debts assumed to cover their basic spending and, on being unable to pay, owe increasingly more.

“If their incomes do not improve, people fall increasingly into debt and their capacity to repay only worsens,” underlines the document. “There are 20.7 million debtors nowadays, of whom 5.6 million are at least three months behind with their payments.”

Using data from the INDEC national statistics bureau’s Permanent Household Survey (EPH in its Spanish acronym), the report continues: “The sums owed by people permit us to see that they are unable to pay their debts and that they go into the red not to buy a house or car but to go to the supermarket, fix the car, buy clothes and finance current expenses in general.”

The study places its focus on a different universe to that analysed by the Central Bank, explaining that this form of measuring arrears is a good indicator for the banks “because it measures the financial health of the system” by pointing out how much money should be collected and is not being received without contemplating what is happening to families.

“Since many of the people in arrears owe small sums, the Central Bank’s indicator for arrears underestimates the social impact – those debts, on being diluted within the total volume of money, make the thousands of people who are being financially suffocated invisible,” says the report.

Arrears beyond repair on the rise

Debts beyond recovery (with payments at least a year behind) make up 16.8 percent of the total: some 3.3 million Argentines.

The more time goes by, the greater the debt. The study details that, for example, those in debt for at least the past year owe over 1.6 million pesos on average while those with payments running behind between six and 12 months are 677,000 pesos in the red on average. In the past year 2.5 million debtors have fallen into arrears.

In order to escape debt, some will use their midyear bonuses. According to a Focus Market survey, 23 percent of Argentines will designate that extra money for cancelling short-term obligations, “especially credit cards and hire purchase.”

This is a figure in itself considering that in mid-2025, those affirming that they would use their midyear ‘aguinaldo’ bonus for that end were only nine percent of those surveyed.