Argentine President Javier Milei will defend his executive budget for 2025 this Sunday, in which he will emphasize the budget balance before the National Congress, an unprecedented event in the country, since until now he assumed this role as Minister of Economy.
From 9:00 p.m. and on national television, so that his message reaches the majority of the population, the ultra-liberal president will draw the economic lines that will govern the action of his government in 2025the year Argentina will hold legislative elections.
As Milei announced at a forum organized in Buenos Aires in early September by the Disenso Foundation, the think tank of the Spanish far-right party Vox, his presence in Parliament goes hand in hand with “explain what the bases of the deficit are zero (fiscal) to end, once and for all, this cancer – he said – that is the budget deficit, the fiscal crises and the macroeconomic disaster, which have plunged Argentina into poverty.
For the Argentine president, his executive has the “commitment” to continue maintaining the budgetary balance achieved in the first months of this year, after Argentina has suffered decades of budget deficits that have become “unaffordable.”
The first half of 2024 was marked by economic contraction (-3.2% over one year) and the strong adjustment of the public sector undertaken by the government of the ultra-liberal Milei – the famous “chainsaw” – to lower inflation, which is decelerating even if it remains one of the highest in the world (236.7% over one year in August).
Argentina recorded a budget surplus of 0.4% of GDP over the first seven months of the year, compared to a deficit of 6% of GDP in 2023.
The Milei Executive, whose management began on December 10, 2023, has experienced two very intense weeks in terms of legislative activity related to budgetary issues.
On the one hand, the pension reform law, which constituted a challenge for the Government As for its balanced budget, it was approved by a majority, then the president vetoed it (a ban later ratified in court when two-thirds were not obtained for its cancellation).
On the other hand, the university financing law, which increases the budget for teachers’ salaries and the maintenance costs of educational centers, was sanctioned by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, although Milei had already immediately announced that he would veto it.
In addition, the ultra-liberal politician suffered a serious setback when the decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) was rejected, which granted an additional amount of more than 100 million dollars for the funds reserved for the intelligence services.
The last time the president visited the National Congress was on March 1, when he delivered the opening speech of the legislative process and announced a so-called national reconstruction agreement, called the May Pact, which ended up being signed on July 9 in the northern province of Tucumán and not with all the representations of the provinces, as he wished.
Despite the expectation of the president’s speech, the bicameral session will not be complete, as opposition lawmakers have already announced that they will not participate.
