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In Milei’s Argentina, Economic Albatross Is Tamed but Life Is Much Harder
At home and abroad, Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, is a man with plenty of fans. And not just any fans. Mr. Milei, a right-wing libertarian, may not have been an obvious choice as the first world leader to meet President-elect Donald J. Trump after his election victory. Yet there he was, at Mar-a-Lago in Florida last month, being showered with praise by Mr. Trump.
One year after taking office, Mr. Milei is viewed favorably by about 56 percent of Argentines, making him one of the most popular presidents in the country’s recent history. This is the president that God brought for the Argentines, said Marcelo Capobianco, a butcher in Buenos Aires. He brought back hope.
Mr. Milei has followed through on bold promises to bring Argentina’s budget under control, firing more than 30,000 government workers and applying deep cuts to spending on health, welfare and education. Before he took office, Mr. Milei’s critics questioned whether a former television pundit, who describes himself as an anarcho-capitalist, could lift Argentina out of its decade-long crisis.
While a cascade of brutal cuts to everything from soup kitchens to bus fare subsidies have pushed more than five million Argentines into poverty, they have also helped Mr. Milei make remarkable progress on a daunting task: reining in the world’s highest inflation rate. Before Mr. Milei was sworn in, monthly inflation was 12.8 percent; now it is 2.4 percent, the lowest in four years.
Some Argentines see a silver lining to the government’s austerity measures. Miguel Valderrama, who owns a small market in Buenos Aires, is relieved to no longer have to endure the unchecked inflation that defined daily life before Mr. Milei’s presidency. There was a price in the morning, and at noon everything increased again — and again two days later, he said.
Mr. Milei’s rise to power followed decades of boom-and-bust cycles. Argentina was among the world’s wealthiest countries, but years of government mismanagement emptied its public coffers, led to multiple defaults on tens of billions of dollars in international loans and left the economy limping.
Back home, however, Margarita Barrientos, who runs a soup kitchen in a working-class neighborhood in Buenos Aires, said the Milei government had inflicted far too much suffering. The country’s poverty rate rose to 53 percent from 40 percent in the first six months of the year, according to government figures.
Despite the challenges, experts say Mr. Milei has succeeded in achieving the most pressing task: averting a deeper inflation spiral. And, for now, many Argentines appear to be willing to give Mr. Milei time to continue his sweeping economic overhaul.