Milei says he will close the Central Bank “sooner or later”

The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, said on Thursday (11 January 2024) that he will fulfill one of his campaign proposals: close the Central Bank. According to him, the country faces “a price rearrangement process” and, therefore, there will be “a period of inflation with horrible numbers”.

The statements were made on the radio LaRed. At the end of the interview, the journalist asked if Milei intended to dollarize Argentina's economy and the Argentine president replied: “Sooner or later, I will close the Central Bank”.

Data released on Thursday (11.jan) indicate that Argentina closed the year 2023 with an annual inflation of 211.4%. The rate recorded in December was 50.5 percentage points higher than the previous month. Here's the complete (PDF – 2.5 MB), in Spanish, from the Index (National Institute of Statistics and Census).

Milei declared that “willing to privatize Banco Nación and all state-owned companies”. According to him, “people are aware of the disaster” that your government inherited and “they know they have to go through a difficult time to overcome it”.

He stated that his management carried out “the fastest negotiation in history” with the IMF (International Monetary Fund). “We apply a much deeper adjustment plan than that requested by the IMF“, he said.

The agreement between Argentina and the IMF, achieved on Wednesday (10.jan), go allow the unlocking of US$4.7 billion. In return, the country's government committed to transforming the deficit primary in surplus and increase net reserves. Here's the completein English (PDF – 395 kB) of a joint note from the Fund and the Argentine government on the agreement.

BRAZIL

Asked about the situation with Brazil, Milei declared that the commercial relationship between the 2 countries is “mature” It is “wcontinues as before.”

The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) supported the election of Peronist candidate Sergio Massa, who contested the 2nd round of the Argentine elections against Milei. During his electoral campaign, Milei called the PT member “communist” It is “corrupt”. He also accused Lula of interfere in the Argentine electoral campaign and to finance part of it. Then she lowered her tone, invited the Brazilian president and said he would be well received if he were to be inaugurated. In this scenario, Lula chose to send Chancellor Mauro Vieira to Milei's inauguration.