Protests mounting at austerity measures put into place to cut in inflation
Inflation in Argentina is now running at 287.9%, figures released on Friday afternoon by the government’s INDEC statistics bureau showed. The number, 9.7 points higher than February’s, indicates that Argentina’s runaway price hikes remain the worst in the world.
In late November Javier Milei won Argentina’s presidential elections and took office in December. Inflation at the time was over 25% MoM. It is now 4% MoM.
DB2
He may seem crazy but he is doing what he has to do.
Argentina inflation hits five-year low in win for Milei
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-inflation-rate-seen-hitting-milei-era-low-2025-02-13/
Argentina’s monthly inflation rate dropped to 2.2% in January, its lowest since mid-2020 after libertarian President Javier Milei took office just over a year ago ushering in austerity measures that have helped stabilize the embattled economy…
Bringing down inflation is key for Milei’s government, which wants to scrap capital controls that hurt business and investment. It wants inflation to stay below 2% to allow it to end the controls, though analysts remain wary of when that might happen.
DB2
… and yet lower in October. Plus
A stronger peso is also boosting confidence. The black market dollar price has dropped since July, narrowing its gap with the official rate of 980.
On the flipside
The brutal austerity has deepened Argentina’s recession, with consumer spending falling 20% percent in the past year and poverty rates soaring to a two-decade high of 52.9% in the second half of last year. Argentina’s retirees are perhaps the most potent symbol of the strife inflicted by Milei’s fiscal shock.
Musk is reported to be a big fan.
Do not forget, Argentina has been through this cyclic madness multiple times. Milei has done what had to be done, quite credibly given the disaster before him, but the real questions are
what are his plans for recovery now?
whom are favored and whom punished
will he put in place institutional rules and regs to prevent the repeat that most Argentinians (since this brutal cycle has repeated since the 1880’s) expect
“Argentina is back on the radar,” said Rodrigo Stefanini, CEO of Latin American operations at Stefanini Group, a Brazilian multinational technology company…The company’s annual sales jumped 15% in Argentina last year and its workforce grew 10%…
Petrobras, which is already part of a consortium operating two concessions in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta shale region, told Reuters it is eyeing additional ventures…
Brazil-based CVC Corp, one of the largest travel groups in Latin America, is already expanding in Argentina…Cambuci SA, Brazil’s largest producer of soccer balls, footwear and apparel, recently secured a five-year distribution agreement in Argentina, after closing its local subsidiary in 2023 amid raw material shortages and currency restrictions.
DB2
An unnecessary meme coin scandal will no doubt put a speed bump in their way.
Javier Milei accused of fraud over promotion of cryptocurrency
One thing one seems to be able to absolutely rely on across jurisdictions is the amount of trust and confidence one can place into the lead characters of populist movements.
Agreed. Four years from now much of this will be wiped away. None of them have that much support.
Meloni in Italy has been doing well, and Milei has made decent progress over the last 14 months.
DB2
This is why we’re seeing the confluence between populist leaders and crypto scams.
Yup, but there are key differences. Accountability for one -