Approval Tracker: Argentina's President Javier Milei
Approval Tracker: Argentina's President Javier Milei
Over one year into his presidency, how is the libertarian leader faring?
This article was originally published December 9, 2024 and has since been updated.
It’s been over one year since Javier Milei assumed the presidency of Argentina on December 10, 2023 and in the process became the first self-professed libertarian head of state in the world. The former congressman, radio host, and economist won 56 percent of the vote in the November 2023 presidential runoff with a campaign promising to radically reduce the Argentine state and reverse the country’s economic woes.
In his first year of governance, Milei did not take action on several of his most extreme campaign proposals, like dollarizing the economy, shutting down the Central Bank, and cutting ties with China. Still, he’s kept consistent with promises to reduce the size of the bureaucracy and impose austerity. And though he’s clashed with Congress, he did achieve some victories, like the passage of a bill of economic adjustments and reducing 2024 federal budget expenditures, including pensions and public works, by 30 percent. In April, Milei sealed a 48-month $20 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund while lifting many of Argentina's capital and currency controls. So far, the Argentine peso has not experienced a major devaluation.
“There's a sense of cautious optimism,” says the AS/COA senior advisor about the Argentine president’s plan to further fiscal discipline.
"It was a very important moment in the president’s tenure,” says the AS/COA senior advisor, who covers the Argentine leader's first six months in office.
