Milei announces deregulation of the economy and paves the way for privatizations and labor reform

Surrounded by his ministers and economic advisors, Milei once again took an x-ray of Argentina’s economic and social situation. He cited official poverty rates, poor children and adolescents, the fiscal deficit and said that the country’s Central Bank does not have reserves. Milei criticized politicians in general, saying that they are the ‘caste’ (which he pointed out so much in the campaign) and especially the “left, socialism, collectivism” which, according to him, harms the life of the individual. “Politicians are the cause of our problems. Politicians are not God,” Milei said in the recorded message. He ratified what he had already said in his inauguration speech, on December 10th on the steps of the National Congress and with his back to the building, that if nothing is done, Argentina is heading towards inflation of 15,000% percent. “We are going to put an end to the country’s model of decadence,” he said.

Among the 30 measures read by Milei is the annulment of the law that prevents the privatization of state-owned companies. This and other measures, such as the possibility of football clubs becoming public limited companies, “if they want”, and the labor reform, meet Milei’s promise to liberalize the economy. “We want the modernization of the labor regime,” he said.

Milei’s package of measures (more than 300, of which he cited only 30 on the national network) are part of the so-called Necessity and Urgency Decree (DNU), equivalent to a Provisional Measure, and the debate, at the end of Wednesday night – fair, it was about which measures, which were announced by him, may or may not be applied without the approval of the National Congress – or which may generate disputes in court. For some experts, a DNU itself should already be submitted to parliament and the text could not take more than ten days to be sent by the Executive to Congress.

According to the government, the DNU, with all measures, comes into force this Thursday.

Shortly after Milei’s speech, riots were reported in several neighborhoods of Buenos Aires.