Buenos Aires, Dec 20 (EFE).- Argentina’s new president Javier Milei on Wednesday night announced a sweeping plan for the reform of more than 300 regulations to lay “the foundations for the reconstruction of the Argentine economy and restore its freedom and autonomy to individuals, getting the State off their backs.”
Javier Milei participates in the second electoral debate, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 08 October 2023. EFE-EPA FILE/Agustin Marcarian / POOL
With the confessed purpose of making Argentina “a world power,” the objective of this ambitious plan is “to dismantle the enormous amount of regulations that have prevented, hindered and stopped the economic growth of our country,” the libertarian Argentinian president proclaimed on national radio and television.
Milei announced that in the coming days “extraordinary sessions will be called” in the National Congress and “a package of laws will be sent to accompany these reforms and advance the process of change.”
The urgent need decree (DNU) seeks to transform “all” state companies into public companies for their “later privatization,” in order to deregulate the country’s economy.
LOOMING PRIVATIZATION
The package that Milei will send to parliament for approval includes the repeal of the State company regime and the regulations that prevent the privatization of public companies.
“We received the worst inheritance in history,” lamented the head of state – the first economist leader in the country’s history – when announcing a plan that aims to end the fiscal deficit.
Among the burden received from the governments of recent years, mostly of a Peronist nature, Milei cited “the consolidated deficit of 15 percent of GDP, the highest tax pressure in the world, the lack of reserves in the Central Bank, destroyed credit confidence, unbridled monetary issuance and the annual inflationary crisis of 15,000 percent.”
He also complained about “serial defrauders” who have taken 13 zeros out of the peso and destroyed five other national currencies, about “two hyperinflationary crises without wars, 50 percent of the population below the poverty line, 10 percent of the indigent population and five million Argentines who do not have enough to eat.”
A couple kisses as people on a fence yell at a demonstration against the economic measures announced by President Javier Milei, in front of the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 20 December 2023. EFE/ Juan Ignacio Roncoroni
The government’s program includes the repeal of the Rental Law, the possibility for football clubs to become public limited companies if they wish, and the authorization of the total or partial transfer of the Aerolíneas Argentinas shareholding package.
EXTRAORDINARY SESSION IN CONGRESS
The decree, which will be sent to Congress for approval in an extraordinary session, also provides for the repeal of the Supply Law, which contemplates sanctions on companies in cases of shortages of certain products, as well as the repeal of the Gondola Law, which requires supermarkets to offer a minimum of products manufactured by small companies.
In addition, the measures announced establish the reform of the Customs Code to “facilitate” international trade and that “prohibiting exports is prohibited,” in the words of Milei.
OPPOSITION IN THE STREETS
The impact of the battery of measures deregulating the economy and privatizing the public sector announced by Milei was seen in the streets of Buenos Aires, where residents of some neighborhoods staged protests from crosswalks, windows and balconies, banging pots and other utensils.
A woman at a demonstration against the economic measures announced by President Javier Milei, in front of the National Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 20 December 2023. EFE/ Juan Ignacio Roncoroni
“Out Milei!” resounded in the streets of the capital, where just a month ago the then-presidential candidate of La Libertad Avanza won by almost 12 points ahead of then-Economy Minister Sergio Massa.
As EFE was able to verify, the protest action was heard in several areas of the city, including some of the most affluent, such as Palermo and Belgrano, but also in more modest neighborhoods such as Caballito, Almagro and Avellaneda.
The announcement of the government’s economic shock plan occurred on the same day that some 3,000 people called by social and left-wing organizations took to the streets of the Argentinian capital to show their rejection of the policies of the president, who in just 10 days in power is promoting a severe adjustment plan with which he aims to reverse the endemic ills of the country’s economy. EFE
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