Argentina’s Milei Pledges a ‘Deep Self-Critique’

Good for President Javier Milei of Argentina for vowing to stay the course on his economic reform agenda in the face of a setback at the polls. “Today we suffered a clear defeat,” Mr. Milei said, “and we have to accept it.” While pledging a “deep self-critique,” Mr. Milei promises “there will be no retreat in government policy,” committing himself to his platform of defeating inflation and restoring growth that earned him a landslide victory in 2023.The electoral results on Sunday in the Buenos Aires province — a haven for the leftist Peronist opposition that led Argentina’s economy astray over past decades — are a reminder of the fragility of the progress Mr. Milei has made so far. After the voting, though, the self-described anarcho-capitalist said, per Bloomberg, that “he would not stray from pursuing a budget surplus or his government’s foreign exchange and monetary policy priorities.”Mr. Milei’s party earned some 34 percent of the votes in the province, Argentina’s largest, compared to 47 percent for the Peronists. The results could be seen as a “bellwether for national midterms next month,” Bloomberg reports, as Mr. Milei has expressed hopes to “boost his party’s current minority status in Congress to further curb inflation and shrink government spending.”Ironically, the poor showing at the polls comes amid growing evidence of the economic advantages presented by Mr. Milei’s policies. The nation’s “annualized inflation rate is now under 21 percent,” reports the Atlantic Council, which estimates that “it is likely soon to drop below the annual rate of around 20 percent.” That pace was last seen under the tenure of President Alberto Fernández, who led Argentina between 2019 and 2023.The nation’s currency, the peso, is strengthening, too, under Mr. Milei’s leadership. The peso has advanced some 40 percent, in real terms, against America’s dollar, reported Michael Stott of the Financial Times. That resurgence has bolstered consumer sentiment. Yet the boost vis-a-vis the fiat dollar, but not gold, these columns have noted, “is a reminder that the opportunity beckons for Mr. Milei to embrace the cause of monetary reform.”It’s good news, too, in “defying the conventional wisdom” that “fiscal consolidation must come at the expense of growth,” per the Atlantic Council. It reckons that Argentina is showing “signs of a strong rebound even as public spending has declined.” Feature the International Monetary Fund’s projection that the economy under Mr. Milei will expand by 5.5 percent this year, led by “export-oriented sectors such as agribusiness, mining, and energy.”The Atlantic Council marvels that “these engines of growth, long held back by distortive policies and bottlenecks, are now regaining momentum.” They point to Mr. Milei’s “clearer, rules-based macroeconomic environment and the progressive modernization of regulations.” More’s the pity, then, if voters temporarily frustrated by budget austerity and government spending cuts would opt to pull the rug out from under Mr. Milei’s plans.Mr. Milei, after all, acceded to the presidency on a program to reverse the leftist statism imposed starting under Juan Peron and his wife Eva. The Peronist agenda of high taxes, state control, and stifling regulation pushed Argentina off its course as one of the world’s wealthiest nations at the start of the 20th century. Kudos to Mr. Milei for having drawn courage in the wisdom of the electorate to hew to his course of freer markets and economic revival.

Argentina’s Milei Pledges a ‘Deep Self-Critique’

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