2023-12-16 14:13:00
(CNN Spanish) — “There is no money,” said Javier Milei in his inaugural speech in front of Congress Square before thousands of people who chanted in unison: “there-is-no-silver”, “there-is-no-silver”. “The adjustment is inevitable,” concluded the new president.
This is how the first week of the new government of Argentina began, which took office with an inheritance of 160% year-on-year inflation and which those around us and others assure that, in the short term, it can only get worse.
Milei had warned literally: “In the short term the situation will get worse.”
And before 48 hours of management were completed, his Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, underlined it. The deficit is “the origin of economic problems.” “What is the deficit? When more is spent than the country collects,” he said and, in a recorded message, he announced a package of ten measures that hit more than one sector.
Devaluation of the currency, partial reduction of subsidies for passenger transport and energy, closure of ministries and secretariats, suspension of public works with their consequent layoffs, increase in taxes on imports and exports, and the return to the collection of taxes on gains for a sector of employees that had been excepted by the previous government, are just some of the guidelines.
Immediately followingwards, the powerful unions issued statements repudiating the announcements. “It is not the ‘caste’. The adjustment is paid by the people,” published the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), and the Banking Association redoubled the accusation. “Savages,” was the title of the message he published on the social network X, formerly Twitter.
Luis Caputo (Office of the President of the Argentine Republic)
The Argentine Agrarian Federation also was pronounced. “In the campaign he said something else,” claimed the president of the entity, Carlos Achetoni, in a radio program. Then, they were summoned by the government for a meeting in which there was no going back on the measures, although the conflict did not escalate.
Those that did increase were prices in supermarkets, with increases that in some products exceeded 180%, according to a list of wholesale suppliers reviewed by CNN; in fuels that rose in some cases by 37%, as well as in butcher shops, bakeries, streaming platforms with dollar subscriptions, etc.
“Indeed, to achieve stabilization of the economy, measures are needed that include fiscal consolidation (…) the doubt that remains and the criticism is the magnitude, it is of a much larger dimension than what seemed necessary, both in fiscal and exchange terms,” Guido Zack, director of Economics at the Fundar research center, tells CNN.
Without a rest
Two days later, the security announcements came. Patricia Bullrich, former presidential candidate for one of the parties that faced Milei in the first electoral round, now a minister in the new Government, presented her protocol to combat protests with street closures.
“He who makes them pays,” he said, paraphrasing the president and announced a series of steps to follow that aim to sanction any type of protest that blocks free movement.
Quickly, leftist groups crossed Bullrich in networks. “It is absolutely unconstitutional. She is the one who is in the realm of illegality. The right to protest is the first of the rights,” wrote Myriam Bregman, leader of the Left Workers Front and former candidate for vice president.
Milei did not give statements in his first four days in office. Neither does the Minister of Human Capital, Sandra Pettovello, who is in charge of the portfolio that ensures social containment. The leader of La Libertad Avanza said on more than one occasion that she was going to be “the only one with an open wallet” in relation to expenses for social policies.
Did the measures that Milei promised and still not take disappoint his voters?
“It is like a mixture of pragmatism with awareness of limits and restrictions, and a loss of unconsciousness of the electoral campaign,” political analyst Facundo Nejamkis tells CNN when comparing the first week of Milei’s presidency with his original proposals. .
“Milei worked on the conscience and political culture of a lot of voters that I would not underestimate from the start and would say that all of them believed that they were not going to have to pay for any of the adjustment,” he adds. “What remains to be seen is what level of resistance voters in the country have in relation to a program that clearly when applied has a much greater impact on the population in general than on the caste in particular,” reflects the also director of the consulting firm Opina Argentina.
Later, in a television interview with LN+, Minister Caputo said that both dollarization and the closure of the Central Bank, central axes of Milei’s electoral campaign, were still in the government’s plans.
A lifesaver on the last business day
Like every day, on Friday the presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, gave his morning conference to journalists and announced some cuts in the public administration, including the reduction of drivers and the car fleet as well as the sale of two planes belonging to the oil company YPF. .
Adorni anticipated that probably next week they will begin to “delineate the first outlines of the structural reforms” following the emergency measures already announced.
Finally on Friday, Milei appeared on Instagram and said that “all the effort that falls on the private sector is transitory.” “Today my top priority is to end hyperinflation (…) We are totally committed to ending inflation, to avoiding hyperinflation. Hence, we made a hyper-orthodox program with a strong fiscal adjustment to bring the financial deficit to zero,” he stated.
And later, the Pettovello portfolio communication team announced that the beneficiaries of the Empower Work Program will receive a bonus this Saturday.
Next week, Milei’s government might face the first massive protest in the streets, since December 20 is the anniversary of the social outbreak of 2001 and, like every year, social organizations call for a march to the Plaza de Mayo .
“Time in politics is not a day, it is a process. “I wouldn’t speed up and say ‘that’s it, this doesn’t work, people are already disappointed,’” Nejamkis concluded.
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