Argentina's new leader Javier Milei unveiled a series of measures on Wednesday to deregulate the country's struggling economy, eliminating or changing more than 300 rules, including on rents and labor practices.
Issued on: December 21, 2023 – 03:06
2 minutes
Argentina's new leader Javier Milei unveiled a series of measures on Wednesday to deregulate the country's struggling economy, eliminating or changing more than 300 rules, including on rents and labor practices.
“The goal is to embark on the path of rebuilding the country … and begin to undo the large number of regulations that have slowed and prevented economic growth,” Milei said in a televised address from the presidential palace, flanked by his cabinet .
Latin America's third-largest economy is in ruins after decades of debt and financial mismanagement, the annual inflation rate is 140 percent and 40 percent of Argentines live in poverty.
Milei, who was elected last month and took office 10 days ago, has promised to curb inflation but warned that dealing with economic “shocks” is the only solution and that the situation will get worse before it gets better improves.
The changes announced Wednesday include the scrapping of a law regulating rent and rules preventing the privatization of state-owned companies.
Milei also announced a “modernization of labor law to facilitate the process of creating real jobs” and a series of other deregulation measures affecting tourism, satellite internet services, pharmaceuticals, wine production and foreign trade.
For the measures to take effect, they must be published in the Government Gazette and then evaluated by a joint committee of lawmakers from both chambers of the legislature.
Constitutional law expert Emiliano Vitaliani told AFP that they could only be repealed if they were rejected by both the lower house and the Senate.
Milei's far-right Libertad Avanza party has just 40 seats in the 257-member lower house and seven of 72 senators.
“Shock” therapy for the economy
The 53-year-old libertarian and self-described “anarcho-capitalist” said spending cuts amounting to five percent of gross domestic product were necessary.
Before Wednesday's announcement, his government had already devalued the Argentine peso by more than 50 percent and announced huge cuts to generous government subsidies for fuel and transportation starting in January – cuts that are sure to hit ordinary Argentines accustomed to high levels of support become.
Milei has also announced a halt to all new public construction projects and a one-year suspension of government advertising.
Last week's measures to combat inflation were welcomed by the International Monetary Fund, to which Argentina owes $44 billion.
Milei won a stunning election victory in November, riding a wave of anger over decades of recurring economic crises marked by debt, rampant money printing, inflation and budget deficits.
Argentines continue to suffer from hyperinflation of up to 3,000 percent in 1989-1990 and a dramatic economic implosion in 2001.
(AFP)
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