Argentina holds breath for Milei's economic reforms
Argentina's President Javier Milei held his first cabinet meeting on Monday as the new government prepares to unveil its first austerity measures to tackle the country's profound economic woes, including triple-digit inflation. The first economic measures "will be announced on Tuesday by Economy Minister Luis Caputo," said government spokesman Manuel Adorni. The Central Bank said in a statement that the exchange market would function as normal to give the new government time to "announce and implement the policies that they will carry out." The 53-year-old Milei, a libertarian and self-described "anarcho-capitalist," met with his nine cabinet ministers after slashing nine portfolios in one of his first government cuts. He took office on Sunday with a stark warning to citizens to steel themselves for painful belt-tightening measures. Once one of the richest countries in the world, Argentina has stagnated in recent decades, unable to escape cycles of fiscal crises marked by debt, financial mismanagement, and inflation which now stands at 140 percent year-on-year. Among the questions hanging over Argentines' heads in the coming days will be whether Milei will devalue the strictly controlled peso. Currency controls introduced in 2019 have birthed a multitude of dollar exchanges in the country. In his debut speech, Milei warned of spending cuts equivalent to five percent of gross domestic product in a country where millions receive welfare handouts and have become accustomed to hefty energy and transportation subsidies. Milei swept from obscurity to the presidency only two years after entering politics, seizing upon deep voter disenchantment with repeated cycles of economic crisis. He fired up voters with rants against the "thieving political caste" and his vows to "dynamite" the Central Bank and ditch the peso for the US dollar -- all while waving around a powered-up chainsaw to symbolize his planned cuts. However, he has watered down many of his fiery stances since being elected in November. (AFP)