Argentina reported a monthly inflation rate of 7.4 percent in the month of July, the highest number in about 20 years.The country's consumer prices have increased 71 percent over the past year, the national statistics agency, called INDEC, said recently.The latest numbers put Argentina among the countries with the highest inflation rates in the world.The effects of inflation are clear in Villa Fiorito, around 15 kilometers from downtown Buenos Aires.There, unemployed women gather in the hopes of exchanging goods for food.Such exchanges that do not involve money are known as bartering.Every afternoon, women set up their blankets and lay out their goods, including clothes and toys.Their hope is to exchange the goods for food to feed their families.The economic problems are likely to get worse before they get better in Argentina.Experts predict that inflation for the whole year will likely reach 90 percent or higher.Thirty-one-year-old Soledad Bustos sets up shop in the Villa Fiorito fair every afternoon while one of her children is in school and another is under the care of her sister.
