BUENOS AIRES.- The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, said before him Congress that he will go all out with his economic reforms “with or without the support of the political leadership,” in his opening speech to the legislative sessions.
“Our convictions are unalterable, we will organize the public accounts with or without the help of the rest of the political leadership,” said the president, assuring that if Congress rejects his reforms again, he will use “all the legal resources of the national Executive power.” to put them into practice. “If what they are looking for is conflict, they will have conflict,” he added.
During the beginning of the ordinary sessions of Congress, in the midst of a tense social climate marked by strikes, protests and an increase in inflation, poverty and destitution, the head of state called “rats’ nests”, “criminals”, “traitors”, “corrupt”, “symbols of caste” to the legislators.
“They have to accept that people hate politicians,” he said in statements to the press. Furthermore, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, he said, “I don’t need Congress to save the economy.”
Argentina is going through an economic crisis with 254% year-on-year inflation, 50% since the new president took office. Half of the population is in poverty.
Due to the accelerated increase in prices of food and medicines, the removal of subsidies in public services caused an abrupt adjustment in rates. For example, in Buenos Aires the transportation ticket increased 250% from one day to the next.
Ten days after taking office, mercy launched a presidential decree (DNU) that modified or repealed more than 300 regulations for a profound deregulation of the economy, but the initiative accumulated dozens of precautionary measures in court that question its constitutionality.
Then he sent to Congress the so-called “Omnibus Law” with 664 articles with structural changes, such as the privatization of some 40 companies, the limitation of the right to strike, the delegation of powers in the Executive Branch and unprecedented regulations in Argentina such as requiring judges the use of toga and hammer.
But the project did not have enough support in Congress and mercy ordered to remove it.
The International Monetary Fund, which predicts an economic contraction of 2.8% in 2024 for Argentina, welcomed the measures taken by the government but recommended that these be calibrated to protect the poorest social sectors.
“My adjustment is stronger than that of the IMF,” he assured. mercy to the press on repeated occasions, in reference to his commitment to achieving a surplus of 3% of GDP this year, more than what the Fund is asking for.
In 2018, under the presidency of Mauricio Macri, Argentina contracted a debt with the organization for 57,000 million dollars, of which it received just over 44,000 million in a program that is still in force.
Source: With information from AFP
