Javier Milei’s win in Congress has started the clock ticking. Argentina’s president needs achievements to convince a society that is impatient for economic change that better times are around the corner.
President Javier Milei has achieved his first legislative breakthrough after six months in power with the approval of what he describes as the “most ambitious reform in the last 40 years.” But now, in the midst of an apparent good run, he must deal with a society that is impatient for economic results.
Milei’s so-called ‘Ley de Bases’ bill just scraped through the Senate after a marathon session, and it has yet to be definitively signed off by the Chamber of Deputies. Still, it’s progress: in January, a version of the same law with some 600 articles, as against the current one with just over 200, had failed in the lower house and been withdrawn.
The negotiated and trimmed reform bill includes the privatisation of some state-run companies, tax changes, economic deregulation, the delegation of special powers to the Executive branch and a special regime for large overseas investors.
The government can boast achievements on that front: inflation continued to slow down in May to a monthly 4.2 percent, the lowest figure in two-and-a-half years, though over the last 12 months it remains near 280 percent; meanwhile, public spending is being brought under control.
iN mAY, The International Monetary Fund gave Milei another boost when it approved the eighth quarterly review of Argentina’s US$44-billion credit agreement and the immediate disbursement of some US$800 million.
But the IMF also called on Milei’s government to “improve the quality of fiscal adjustment.”
Society too is growing impatient. The Senate debate was accompanied by protests and clashes with security forces outside Congress. Dozens of people were wounded and arrested, while two cars were set on fire.
Milei has repeatedly asserted that his reform bill is key for the country’s economic take-off. With its approval, that discursive tool has vanished.
SOURCE: www.batimes.com.ar