Buenos Aires: Argentina’s parliament approved an economic reform package after months of wrangling, giving populist President Javier Miley his first legislative victory on Friday.
“We will give President Miley’s government the tools to reform the country once and for all,” said Gabriel Bornroni, head of the Governance Blog, in his closing remarks.
Miley began congratulating herself before the package was passed, hailing it as “the greatest tax reform not only in the history of Argentina, but in human history.”
His government has launched a major fiscal austerity program aimed at achieving “zero budget deficit” by the end of 2024 to combat chronic inflation.
But budget cuts, coupled with the slowdown of the public sector, led to a sharp devaluation of the peso in December and choked purchasing power.
Political scientist and economist Pablo Tigani told AFP that politically Friday’s green light would mean “total success for the government”.
But economically, it will return to the policies of the 1990s, deregulation, privatization and the unconditional opening of the economy, which will hit industry and national small and medium enterprises. “
