BUENOS AIRES, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Poverty levels in Argentina have "begun to diminish...giving energy and driving each person who is waiting for their opportunity," said President Mauricio Macri on Wednesday.

The president was speaking in Buenos Aires, at the 50th anniversary of the creation of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), a state institution tasked with measuring poverty levels, among other factors.

During the ceremony, Macri said that, after a series of changes introduced at INDEC, "we can say with certainty that our country is growing" and that "the (poverty) numbers have begun to diminish."

According to the latest INDEC report, from September 2017, poverty affects 28.6 percent of Argentineans, equivalent to about 12 million people. This percentage marks a reduction of 3.6 percent from 32.2 percent seen in September 2016.

"Only by telling the truth about the present can we plan a better future for everyone. This is key, crucial and my central commitment to all Argentineans," vowed Macri.

He added that "we are celebrating far more than the half century of INDEC" and stated that the transformation of the institution over the last two years "was a great departure point, because only by knowing reality will we be able to do something to change it."

"In these two years, INDEC has done great work to revise its processes, and train teams to meet its true purpose and give us real numbers," explained Macri.

In November, the IMF lifted a motion of censure against Argentina, which had been in place since 2013 after it detected irregularities in the country's Consumer Price Index (CPI) and GDP measures.