Javier Milei presented the first budget project of his administration. He did so in person and in Congress, an unprecedented development that allowed him to turn the event into a party event and punish the opposition deputies and senators who listened to him at will. The Argentine president gave a tight summary of his ideas: the fiscal surplus will solve all of Argentina’s problems and the State should only deal with economic policy and security. “Any other issue can be resolved through the market, or it is the responsibility of sub-national governments,” that is, the provinces, said Milei. The other issues are education, health, social security and culture. “This budget will change the history of our country forever, so that we can once again be the great Argentina that we were. After years of the political class putting shackles on freedoms, we come here to put shackles on the State,” said Milei.
The president did not give figures for the 2025 budget, which Congress will now have to deal with. He did present, however, the magic formula that he believes will make Argentina “a solvent country.” “The deficit was always a consequence of first thinking about how much to spend and then seeing how to achieve it. We are going to do it the other way around, first thinking about how much we have to save, and then seeing how much we can spend.” In a later statement, the Casa Rosada detailed that it expects GDP growth of 5% for 2025, inflation of 18.3% – today the interannual rate is 236.7% – and a primary surplus of 1.3% of GDP, which will be “slightly in surplus” once the interest on the external debt is paid. Milei’s government is thus sending a message to its creditors, who fear that the country will not be able to gather the international reserves necessary to meet its obligations. Today, the Central Bank has negative reserves of 4 billion dollars.
At the start of his administration, Milei achieved fiscal balance by completely suspending public works, diluting the cost of pensions with inflation and cancelling money transfers to the provinces. Milei made it clear that there will not be too many changes in that regard. He urged the governors to save expenses for 60 billion dollars. He also told the legislators that he will veto by decree all the laws that the Casa Rosada considers to be an attack on fiscal balance. “This is a moment to change the course of history. The only way up is to end the fiscal deficit, reduce public spending, eliminate taxes and trust in the exercise of freedom of the Argentines, everything that you hate,” he told the few opponents who attended Congress and will have in their hands the approval or rejection of the budget that Milei gave them. “You must decide if you want to be in the corner of the miserable rats that bet against the country and against its people,” he told them. From the balconies of Congress, the president’s supporters chanted “the caste is afraid,” the war cry of the Argentine far right.
The presentation of the 2025 budget was completely out of the ordinary. Since the return to democracy in 1983, it is the responsibility of the Minister of Economy to personally take the bill to the Congressional commission in charge of a first analysis. Milei wanted to give the event an epic dimension this time, in line with the importance he gives to the economy, to the detriment of politics. The opposition politicians, especially the Kirchnerists, were those who suffered the most from the staging. Milei accused them of not knowing how to add up and suggested that they listen carefully to his speech. They also received pressure from the legislators who answer to the Government and the shouts that came from the boxes of the hall.
Despite his attacks, Milei will now have to negotiate with the opposition, which is the majority and holds the key to any law. The president is clear that he is in the minority and what that means. Last week, Congress approved a university financing law that increases spending and annulled, for the first time in Argentine history, a presidential decree that granted the intelligence services an extra 100 million dollars. Now he will have to convince those same deputies and senators to vote for next year’s budget, even though today he insisted on calling them “miserable rats.”
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