Argentina's inflation, as told by haircuts

STORY: At Ruben Galente’s barber shop in Buenos Aires, these stacks of notebooks tell the story of Argentina’s crippling inflation.

The 67-year-old has written down the date and price of every haircut for decades...

From 15 pesos in 1991 - to 3,000 pesos in 2023.

That's an inflation rate of 19,900%.

Since center-left President Alberto Fernandez took office in December 2019, prices have risen 847% - the fastest of any administration, according to Galente’s notebooks.

"What I see is that this crisis began in the government of Cristina, then Macri could not solve it, and neither could Alberto. It is a very long, very long crisis. In other words, it has not been eased, it has been getting worse and worse.”

At a rate of 124% annually, inflation is at the highest level since 1991.

Some economists estimate it could end the year near 200%.

It’s a far cry from the economic outlook when Galente first opened up his shop in 1982 - the last year of military dictatorship.

When he was 26 years old, he started out by renting, before buying the shop three years later with the help of the bank.

In 1991, the government of Carlos Menem pegged the peso at one-to-one with the dollar.

That put an end to the dizzying hyperinflation as the country returned to democracy.

For over a decade, the cost of a haircut would stay at 15 pesos.

"My purchasing power was much higher in those years with fifteen pesos … Apart from the fact that there were other factors. Property, for example, was worth much less in dollars. I was able to buy my first flat in 1989 for $23,000. Today a flat with those characteristics is not less than $120,000, and I could buy it by saving peso after peso, without credit."

Pressure started to build in the late 90s as over-spending ballooned and unemployment spread.

By 2001, the country was in an economic crisis.

Amid riots, President Fernando de la Rua fled the presidential palace by helicopter.

With the one-to-one peg undone, inflation made a comeback.

Today, the painful cost of living crisis has left four in ten people in poverty.

Galente worries about his adult children.

His daughter moved overseas, part of the brain drain of young Argentines looking for better opportunities.

He says his son in Buenos Aires is not making strides.

"My son has a music academy, the academy is working at full power and yet he can't buy property, he can't buy a car. He is working very hard but the money is not enough.”

Inflation is one of the biggest issues on voter’s minds ahead of the October 22 election, bolstering support for right-wing radical Javier Milei.

His platform includes scrapping Argentina’s peso.

But the libertarian's aggressive personality has turned off Galente, who is eyeing mainstream conservative Patricia Bullrich instead.

“Argentina has a way out of this, the way out is political. Our country has resources, it has many things to be able to be better, but it seems no one can agree on a model of how to get there."