BUENOS AIRES: President-elect Javier Milei has said that it could take between eighteen and twenty-four months to control Argentina’s rampant inflation as he outlined his plans to reform the economy.
Milei secured a resounding victory in Sunday’s presidential election, trouncing Economy Minister Sergio Massa by twelve points with a pledge to halt decades of unbridled state spending and “end the decline of Argentina,” AFP news agency reported.
The 53-year-old outsider, who has drawn comparisons with former US president Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro for his abrasive style and controversial statements, pledged to “very quickly put public accounts in order.”
In a series of morning radio interviews to present his vision, Javier Milei said he had a “clear plan” to tackle annual inflation that has hit 140% and a poverty rate of 40%.
During the campaign, Milei promised to ditch the ailing peso for the US dollar and get rid of the central bank, which he accuses of fueling inflation by printing money to finance government overspending.
He said that the empirical evidence for the Argentine case says that if you reduce monetary emissions today, it takes between eighteen and twenty-four months to destroy inflation.
Milei is anti-abortion, suggesting a referendum to end access to the procedure, and does not believe humans are responsible for climate change.
But he has toned down his controversial rhetoric and has focused on his plans to reform the country.
Javier Milei’s Plan for Argentina
Milei said that everything that can be in the hands of the private sector is going to be in the hands of the private sector, including the state media and state oil company YPF.
He said he would end strict currency exchange controls — with economists saying the official rate of the peso to the dollar is an expensive fiction.
However, the president-elect said he would first seek to resolve the debt issued by the central bank.
He warned that if the central bank’s problem is not resolved, the hyperinflation shadow will always follow the country.
