Argentina’s ultra-liberal president, Javier Milei, said on Tuesday he would continue cutting public spending with a “chainsaw” in 2025, continuing an austerity program that has already eliminated 33,000 public jobs in less than a year of government.
“I started thinking about the government’s measures for what 2025 will be like. Given the panorama, I confirm that I will continue ‘full’ with the chainsaw. LONG LIVE FREEDOM, DAMN IT!” wrote Javier Milei on his account x.
Since his inauguration in December 2023, the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” Milei has led a drastic austerity program, aiming for a “zero budget deficit,” closing state organizations and freezing public works, exhausting the works. subsidies (energy, transportation, etc.), tightening financing for the provinces, among others.
52% of the population affected by poverty
The “chainsaw” is a key visual symbol of candidate Milei during his victorious 2023 presidential campaign, a machine he easily brandished during rallies, his weapon against the “enemy state.”
The Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, recently highlighted that the government had eliminated 33,291 public jobs at the end of October, including more than 20,000 in the central administration and 11,000 in public companies.
With this shock therapy, the government welcomes a return to consecutive monthly budget surpluses from the beginning of 2024, unprecedented in Argentina in 16 years. And inflation slows down between +3% and 4% monthly, compared to 17% on average for the year 2023.
However, the economy is mired in a recession and GDP is expected to contract by 3.5% at the end of 2024, according to the IMF, which however foresees a strong recovery in 2025, of +5%.
Poverty affected more than 52% of the population in the first half of the year, according to official figures, a jump of 11 percentage points in six months. Although Javier Milei claims that after a peak in early 2024, under the impact of the first shock measures (devaluation of December 2023 in particular), poverty has begun to decrease.
Source: BFM TV
