Javier Milei
closes the IEFA Latam Forum this Tuesday, from where he once again took aim harshly against Kirchnerism.
"Argentina has lived for more than 20 years under a savage populist regime," said the President, who attributed the drop in activity to the "overstimulation" of the economy in the previous government.
In addition, the Chief Executive confirmed the
cancellation of 70 thousand contracts of State employees.
Milei was the main speaker at the IEFA Latam Forum at the Four Seasons Hotel in the City of Buenos Aires.
He was accompanied by Karina Milei, Secretary General of the Presidency, and Manuel Adorni, presidential spokesperson.
The President reviewed his first 100 days in the Casa Rosada.
"It's not something to cry about, it's not something to cry about. Because if something was clear to us with El Jefe (by his sister Karina), it was that if we were truly going to win it was because this was in a disastrous situation. That a libertarian liberal comes to power meant that they were going to make things very difficult for us," he said at the beginning of his speech.
In that section he spoke of the decline in activity and employment.
"
The more violent and longer the process of overstimulating the economy is, the stronger the retraction
. In that sense, Argentina has lived for more than 20 years under a savage populist regime, which led to the destruction of capital and productivity, which is why we are in an absolutely miserable situation. Populism is not free," he indicated regarding the effects of his economic policy.
In that passage he also highlighted that, since the 1990s, Argentines have lost 80 percent of their salaries.
"The average salary was 1,800 dollars in the 90s and today it is hopefully 600 dollars, which is false because they are lower. Today it should be 3,000 dollars, 3 million pesos. We Argentines, in this populist adventure, have lost 80 percent of our income," Milei calculated.
And he remarked: "We were always prepared to take this hot potato and if we had not taken quick measures we would have already been blown up several times."
He highlighted the fiscal policy of going to "zero deficit", a goal that he already defined - like his Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo - as "non-negotiable."
He questioned interest rate control.
He was "deeply proud" of the "rennet" elimination of public works.
"It is a source of corruption and theft, every good Argentine should oppose it," he justified.
In the same sense, he defended the elimination of discretionary transfers to the provinces, which earned him a confrontation with the governors.
He then put figures on the reduction of state contracts.
"We fired 50,000 public employees. Not only that, but contracts were terminated. And notice that more contracts are being terminated.
And 70,000 contracts are going to be terminated
," he confirmed about public employees.
Milei's response to the IMF: "We had a social perspective"
"We eliminated 200,000 social programs delivered irregularly," Milei added.
However, and as a response to the IMF's claims, she highlighted care measures for the low and middle sectors.
"At no time did we neglect social policy, because in the middle we doubled the AUH, the Alimentar Card, we multiplied by 3 the assistance in the 1,000 Days plan, we quadrupled the assistance for school supplies, we put in place a containment mechanism so that children from families middle-income students did not lose the school they attended and did not have the shock of changing schools.
That is to say, we had a strong social perspective in what we did
," listed the President.
In the same scenario, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) who supervises the program with Argentina spoke earlier.
In that appearance, Rodrigo Valdés gave a warning about the exit from the dollar stocks: “A careful opening is necessary.”
He also once again pointed to the social issue, an item on which the Fund has been insisting.
"In relation to policies, we have to continue adapting to the transition and exchange controls must be calibrated very carefully. Furthermore, we believe that it is important to sustain support for the most vulnerable segments of the population to ensure that the burden burden of adjustment does not fall disproportionately on working class families," said the agency official in his evaluation of the Milei government's policy.
News in development