Crisis deflates condom sales as costs rise in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES - In South America’s capital of romance, Argentine lovers are cutting back on one important cost: contraception.

Amid a biting recession, a sharp currency devaluation and painful inflation, sales of condoms and birth control pills have tumbled, pharmacists and manufacturers say.

“The devaluation of the peso is killing me,” actor and comic Guillermo Aquino jests in one viral video, in which a young man apologises to a potential partner, saying he has only one condom left until the end of the year.

“I love you, it's not you, it's the socio-economic situation,” adds the humorist.

Underneath the comedy is a bleaker reality.

South American’s No. 2 economy is expected to shrink 2.6 per cent this year and is grappling with 50 per cent-plus annual inflation.

The peso currency has lost two thirds of its value against the dollar since the start of 2018, hammering imports and consumption.

Domestic sales of cars, wines and meat have dipped as wallets have been squeezed. Industry sources estimated condom sales are down 8 per cent since the start of the year compared to 2018, and have fallen by a quarter over recent months as the economic crisis has worsened.