ARGENTINA’S Senate dealt a blow to President Javier Milei’s brutal austerity programme on Thursday when it pushed through an increase to pension spending that would cost at least 0.4 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

The bruising defeat for the far-right president again cast a spotlight on his weakness in Congress, which is controlled by opposition parties.

The Bill, which already swept through the lower house in June, passed the Senate in a 61-8 vote. All but one of the lawmakers who voted against the Bill were from Mr Milei’s party, a sign that the president’s allies had failed to negotiate with more moderate right-wing parties.