President Javier Milei made an eye-opening appearance at the AmCham business summit in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, telling investors Argentina is “dirt cheap,” hailing his party’s recent election win and linking the 2021 legislation of abortion to“falling birth rates.”
Milei, 54, received a warm welcome at the top-tier business summit, which was also attended by a number of his Cabinet ministers and top legislators. The La Libertad Avanza leader was in good spirits, beginning his speech with a joke and apologising for his hoarse voice, which he explained was a result of “things happened over the weekend” – a reference to his party’s victory in last Sunday’s Buenos Aires City legislative elections.
Buoyant, Argentina’s self-proclaimed “anarcho capitalist” head of state called on investors to back his reform drive. “Those who bet on Argentina will come out winning,” he declared confidently.
Speaking before executives, he described Argentina as “an excellent buying opportunity, because it’s dirt cheap and is going to rise like a diver’s fart.”
Milei said his government is pushing forward with a deregulation drive to boost economic growth.
He claimed his administration had implemented more than 2,000 reforms in 500 days. Outlining his long-term vision for the nation, he explained that the key is to “have a business that generates cash flow, that doesn’t get killed by taxes – basically, that there is growth and a stable interest rate.”
Milei also underlined that this transformation was achieved while bringing inflation down. He also played down fears of a recent uptick in consumer price hikes. Inflation “is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon – and we’ve fixed the quantity of money since the middle of last year.”
“Since monetary policy effects are delayed by 18 to 24 months, I’ll tell you this: because we’re not printing [money], by the middle of next year inflation will be gone,” he boldly declared.
Milei went on: “Not only did we deliver a massive fiscal adjustment, we lowered inflation, the economy is growing, and on top of all that, the cruel, wicked, tyrannical and horrible liberals lifted more than 10 million people out of poverty.”
He stressed that Argentina is “very cheap” and urged investors to take advantage.
The nation, the President insisted, is “facing a marvellous case of growth – and now is the time to seize it. In these conditions, within 30 years Argentina could become a leading world power, with two-thirds of that progress happening in the first third – that is, in the first 10 years.”
Ministerial moments
Milei was preceded onstage by Economy Minister Luis Caputo, who teased out details about upcoming measures to encourage Argentines to bring their dollar savings into the wider economy. He explained that dozens of regulations requiring entities to constantly report fund movements will be scrapped.
Caputo argued that a target of the Milei administration is to break with a culture where Argentina “got used to regulating for the exception and assumed 99 percent of people are criminals, which makes everyone avoid formality.”
“There are loads of regulations we can get rid of to make life easier for Argentines,” said the minister.
Caputo said that Argentina’s newly renamed tax bureau, ARCA, would play a smaller role moving forward.
The minister said the scheme being finalised is “a deeper one – the start of a new regime,” arguing that the nation is suffering from “regulatory overkill.”
The excess of regulations, he argued, had only increased informality in the economy.
As well as the economic side, the AmCham Summit also offered some news on the judicial front. During his appearance at the event, Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona revealed that the Milei administration is still keen on expanding Argentina’s Supreme Court.
Cúneo Libarona argued that the nation’s highest tribunal – which currently has two vacancies and is working with just three justices – is currently “making do” and calling on substitute judges to issue rulings.
“Ideally, the Court should be complete. An expansion is being studied,” said the minister, revealing that an allied senator had “tabled a bill to raise the bench to seven justices.”
“Adding more members should not be ruled out – but it remains under review,” he added.
Sweeping reforms
In his inaugural address, AmCham President Facundo Gómez Minujín called on the government to embark upon sweeping tax and labour reform to improve competitiveness.
“Competitiveness is not an abstract concept. It is the key that opens the door to development, investment and sustained employment. It is the necessary condition for companies to grow, for people to gain better opportunities and for Argentina to regain a relevant place on the global stage,” said the JP Morgan executive.
“Competitiveness also requires a profound reform of the tax system. Today companies still operate in a suffocating environment – where tax pressure, overlapping levies and regulatory uncertainty discourage formality and investment,’ he argued. “We need a simpler and fairer system, one that rewards those who produce and create opportunities.”
“A tax system that lowers the formal fiscal burden, streamlines the tax structure and abolishes levies that undermine competitiveness is essential,” the AmCham chief insisted.
Gómez Minujín went on to lament the failure of the ‘Ficha Limpia’ (“Clean Slate”) anti-corruption bill in Congress. He also called for greater investment in infrastructure and an education revolution.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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