The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, announced on Wednesday night a plan that contemplates the reform of more than 300 regulations to lay “the foundations for the reconstruction of the Argentine economy and return freedom and autonomy to individuals, taking away the State.” from above.” 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 impeded, hindered and stopped the economic growth of our country,” he proclaimed on a national television network. radio and television the Argentine president.
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.
The package that Milei will send to Parliament for approval includes the repeal of the State companies regime and the regulations that prevent the privatization of public companies. “We received the worst inheritance in history,” lamented the Argentine head of state – the first in the country’s history to be an economist – when announcing a plan with which he intends to end the fiscal deficit, an endemic evil in the South American country.
Among the burden received from the governments of recent years, mostly of a Peronist nature, Milei cited “the consolidated deficit of 15% of GDP, the highest tax pressure in the world, the lack of reserves in the Central Bank, the confidence destroyed credit, unbridled monetary issuance and the annual inflation crisis of 15,000%”.
He also complained about the “serial defrauders” who have removed thirteen zeros from the peso and destroyed five other national currencies, about “two hyperinflationary crises without wars, 50% of the population below the poverty line, 10% of the destitute population and five million Argentines who do not have enough to eat.
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.
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 Gondolas Law, which requires supermarkets to offer a minimum of products manufactured by small companies.
In addition, the measures announced on national radio and television establish the reform of the Customs Code to “facilitate” international trade and that “prohibiting exports is prohibited,” in the words of Milei.
The impact of the battery of measures deregulating the economy and privatizing the public sector announced by Milei was felt in the streets of Buenos Aires, where residents of some neighborhoods staged a protest from crossroads, windows and balconies, banging pots and other utensils. domestic. “Milei out!” was heard in the streets of the capital of Argentina, where just a month ago the then presidential candidate of La Libertad Avanza won by almost twelve points ahead of the official candidate and at that time Minister of Economy , Sergio Massa.
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 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 Argentine capital to show their rejection of the policy of the ultra-liberal president, who in the ten days that In power, he is promoting a severe adjustment plan with which he aims to reverse the endemic ills of the country’s economy.
