It hasn’t been an easy year for either Argentina or for its President Javier Milei, but all the heavy work and relentless dedication are starting to pay off.
As the results of his uncompromising policies start to show up, his popularity at home is starting to rise to match his growing appreciation on the Conservative world.
The Telegraph reported:
“Painful reforms brought in by Mr. Milei are reaping their first rewards. Monthly inflation was 13 per cent when the 54-year-old economist and TV pundit took office in December 2023. This October it was 2.7 per cent, diabolical for most Western nations but a momentous improvement for Argentina’s distorted, basket case economy. Meanwhile, the South American nation has achieved its first fiscal surplus in more than a decade.”
One year into his rule, Milei has a very decent approval rating of 47 per cent, especially for a leader who has made spending cuts so hard and so deep.
Many analysts thought that firebrand Milei was bound to be an ineffective one-term president, but they increasingly appear to be wrong.
He has otherwise proven himself to be a pragmatic leader who is as efficient as he was once loud.
“Mr. Milei has also gained the attention of Donald Trump and his team, and was recently the first world leader to meet him after his election victory at a ball in Mar-a-Lago. The Argentine president has proudly posed with his golden chainsaw on his desk in recent days, still a symbol of the cuts he is making to the big state.”
He is called a ‘free-market absolutist’ and worked as one to shake up the destroyed economy.
This year the economy will shrink by 3.5 per cent, while cutting public spending by a third and firing 30,000 public sector workers.
“As he completes his first year in office on Dec 10, that perspective may be driving a rebound in Mr. Milei’s domestic popularity, to match the plaudits he has been garnering from international experts.”
Milei’s support fell by some 10 points as he started slashing, but in recent weeks, it has again risen, reaching as much as 56 per cent in one poll.
“Yet the worst may already be over, says Juan Ignacio Carranza, an Argentina specialist at Aurora Macro Strategies, a political and economic risk consultancy. Although the official statistics will not be published until next year, poverty, which shot up 11 points to 53 per cent during the first half of 2024, appears to be falling, driven by gentle rises in wages, he says. GDP should resume growth in 2025.”
Milei, it is said, may be at a point where he can start thinking about cutting taxes. And once he does that, his popularity is bound to jump.
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