Argentinian president Javier Milei appears to have achieved his goal of slashing the bureaucracy – even though he has only been in office for two months. Milei’s administration has brought about a major shift in the country’s policy. The first monthly surplus in almost 12 years was reported.
This is a huge achievement under the new libertarian leadership, who ran with a platform to shrink government as much as they could.
The government of Argentina posted its first budget surplus for more than 10 years — a significant milestone for Javier Milei, the libertarian new president. However, his economic and budgetary changes still face a steep uphill battle within the legislature.
In a country ravaged by inflation and poverty, Mr. Milei has received praise from both young and old ideologues, but scorn from union leaders.
The first monthly surplus of nearly 600 million dollars since August 2012 occurred in January. The rate of inflation fell to 20.6% from 25.5%. Luis Caputo says, “The zero deficit is not negotiable” on X.
The chamber of deputies approved a framework agreement on February 2 for Mr. Milei’s reforms, which include privatizing state-owned companies, deregulating economic activity, and changing criminal and environmental laws. The finer details of the package are still being debated by the legislature, but if the package passes, this would be a major victory for Milei’s libertarian approach to governance.
After the lower chamber approved the motion for his reform package, Mr. Milei stated, “They understood the history and chose to end privileges of caste and corporate republic in favor of people who are poor and hungry.”
Milei was only in charge of the country for one month, so this is quite impressive. This is an impressive fiscal result, especially when you consider that the interest on the public debt was included.
Milei’s term has already been marked by bold and sweeping reforms that aim to shrink Argentina’s government while allowing more freedom for the economy. Milei started cutting government agencies shortly after taking over, particularly those that were responsible for useless programs meant to promote a leftist agenda.
Milei came to power after Argentina’s inflation reached 183 percent in November 2023. This was a result of the fact that around 40% of the population had been impoverished. He’s now taking action. His first executive order in office reduced the number of ministries from 21 down to nine. The Ministry of women, Gender, and diversity was among those slated for elimination, a move that he had previously hinted at in his criticism of “social injustice.”
Milei continued to clean house in late December, dismissing 5,000 employees.
Milei has already eliminated most of the various ministries. His administration wants to further reduce the size of the government and its expenditures by laying off 5,000 employees. The move aims to reduce the size of the government as it struggles with inflation.
Milei’s accomplishments are a positive sign for Argentina’s future even though the road ahead won’t be all roses and sunshine. It will be difficult to undo the damage done by decades of socialist policy. With Milei as the leader, the country can finally pull itself out of the current economic quagmire.
