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Javier Milei presented the 2025 Budget and conditioned the country's growth to the governors making an additional adjustment of USD 60 billion - Infobae
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Javier Milei presentó el Presupuesto 2025 y condicionó el crecimiento del país a que los gobernadores hagan un ajuste adicional de USD 60 mil millones
En un acto inédito en el Congreso, el presidente dijo que desde el Gobierno nacional ya se hizo todo el recorte de gasto posible y remarcó en referencia a los mandatarios provinciales: “Nosotros ya hemos cumplido nuestra parte del acuerdo, ahora faltan ustedes”. “Hoy venimos a ponerle un cepo al...
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In an unprecedented act in Congress, the president said that the national government had already made all possible spending cuts and stressed in reference to the provincial leaders: “We have already fulfilled our part of the agreement, now you are missing.” “Today we have come to put a stop to the State,” he said.
By Juan Pablo Elverdin
Milei presenta el Presupuesto 2025 en el congreso - Inicio del discurso
Milei presenta el Presupuesto 2025 en el congreso - Inicio del discurso
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With an unprecedented presentation, in prime time on national television, President Javier Milei presented the 2025 Budget project in Congress tonight, which has a zero deficit as its “cornerstone” and will be the “most radically different of this century,” as he stressed throughout his speech. He did so with a strong message to the governors, whom he warned that in order to guarantee the reduction of consolidated public spending they must make an adjustment of 60 billion dollars.
Before an audience with several absences in the room (some deputies were there), mainly Kirchnerist legislators, the president ratified the economic idea that he is carrying out, confirmed that he will continue to veto laws that put at risk the fiscal balance that his government defends as a mantra and even left a clear message to the governors.
Milei arrived at Congress at 9:02 p.m. accompanied by his sister and Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei. The president was received by the vice president, Victoria Villarruel, with whom he gave an affectionate hug.
In addition to the officials, the President was also accompanied by his parents and his current partner, Amalia Yuyito González , who were seated in the boxes of the venue.
“Today we are here to present a project that will change the history of our country forever, so that we can once again be the great Argentina that we once were. After years in which the political class lived by putting restrictions on individual freedoms, today we come here to put restrictions on the State. This budget that we are presenting has a methodology that protects fiscal balance regardless of the economic scenario,” Milei began.
For almost 45 minutes, and under the watchful eyes of the members of his Cabinet and the vice president, Victoria Villarruel, Milei explained why he decided to personally present the project at the Palace of the Legislative Power, in an unprecedented event in the history of the country. “I decided to do it personally for two reasons: first, because I am an economist. The first economist president in history, to be more precise. And since I am an economist, probably due to my professional background, for me the destiny of a people is at stake in the economic decisions it makes,” he said.
Javier Milei, during the presentation of the Budget in Congress. Photo: Gustavo Gavotti
He then went on to state the second reason why he decided to break with the tradition of having the Minister of the Economy in office present the bases of the initiative: “The second reason is that I have come to propose a draft Budget that is diametrically different from what we are used to. Not only different, but the most radically different of this century.”
Milei quickly explained the heart of the project that Congress will begin to discuss: “ The cornerstone of this Budget is the first truth of macroeconomics, a truth that has been relegated for many years in Argentina: zero deficit.”
The president reiterated the economic concepts that he has been arguing since his arrival at the Casa Rosada last December, stating that the deficit "can only be covered with debt, with more taxes, or with issuance," and that none of these options are viable in his project.
“Today, in 2024, without the ability to take on debt, with uncontrolled tax pressure, and with an annual inflation rate above 200%, bread has run out, and all Argentines are suffering the final consequences of the economic shamanism of the last governments,” the President stressed in what was his first criticism of the latest administrations.
In this context, he stressed that 2024 “ will be the first year of fiscal surplus without default in the entire history of Argentina,” and recalled that the last time the public accounts had a positive balance was in 2014, but he assured that it was achieved by not paying the debt maturities.
Milei presenta el Presupuesto 2025 en el congreso - Himno Nacional Argentino
Milei presenta el Presupuesto 2025 en el congreso - Himno Nacional Argentino
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Milei presents the 2025 Budget in Congress - Argentine National Anthem
The official budget that Congress will begin to discuss projects inflation for next year at 18.3% and also indicates that this year's inflation will end at 104.4%, an extremely optimistic estimate considering that in the first 8 months of the year it has already accumulated 94.8%. Regarding the medium term, optimism is even greater: in 2026 inflation would be 11.6% and in 2007 7.4%.
The project also forecasts GDP growth of 5% for next year, a rate that would be repeated in 2006 and rise to 5.6% in 2027.
As for the dollar, projections are that the nominal official exchange rate will close this year at $1,020 and by December 2025 it will be at $1,207.
Criticism of the political “caste” and the vetoes to come
Continuing his speech, Javier Milei said that politics “needs” a fiscal deficit “ because it is only by spending money that is not theirs that they can do business for themselves, their clients and their friends.”“There is something that must be made clear once and for all: there is nothing, but nothing, that impoverishes ordinary Argentines more than a fiscal deficit. And there is nothing, but nothing, that enriches politicians more than a fiscal deficit. This is the sad role that public spending plays in the caste model ,” he lashed out.
There, he again criticized the concept of Social Justice, which he described as “extremely violent” since “ it implies taking from some to give to others, based on an inconsistent principle that says that where there is a need, a right is born. But the problem, my friends, is that the needs are infinite and the resources are finite.”
Libertarian legislators in the chamber, before the start of Javier Milei's speech
There he used this concept to criticize Congress for the laws he described as “populist,” in reference to the norm that established changes in retirement mobility, and confirmed that he will veto “ all projects that threaten fiscal balance.”
“ We are not going to be complicit in defrauding the Argentine people to adopt a populist measure . The only context in which we will agree to discuss an increase in spending is when the request comes with an express explanation of what item must be reduced to cover it. This, which should be a truism, seems like a sacrilege said in this house, the place where all the populist measures that have ruined this country have come from,” he added, explicitly questioning the legislators.
Defense of management and change in the Budget methodology
Milei also reiterated the idea that his government implemented “the biggest adjustment in the history of humanity” and rejected those who accuse him of not having management skills. It was then that he made a quick rundown of what he defined as his government’s achievements to highlight, without naming them, several Cabinet ministers, such as Luis Caputo, Patricia Bullrich, Sandra Pettovello and Federico Sturzenegger.
“Managing is not about appointing thousands of officials in every corner of the state, when half of those areas should not exist; managing is about having avoided the hyperinflation that they left at the door and having lowered it to 4% per month; managing is about having eliminated the pickets and having gone more than four months without street closures in the AMBA or having reduced 75% of the homicides in Rosario,” he listed.
“Managing is shrinking the state to make society bigger. We are solving in one year the disaster that our predecessors, by action or omission, generated for more than 20 years. So when those responsible for the failure accuse us of not having management, we carry it in our chest with pride,” he added.4
Part of the Cabinet during the presentation of the 2025 Budget. Photo: Gustavo Gavotti
Milei then emphasized the radical change in the way of preparing the Budget that he seeks to implement, something that he defined as one of the legacies that he seeks to leave as president. In that framework, he proposed the idea of “ an unbreakable fiscal rule” that will be applied in each of the income and expenditure projects that he promotes.
He explained that the first premise of this idea “is that the primary surplus must necessarily equal or exceed the amount of debt interest to be paid,” and he assured that years of economic “abundance” will come.
“ Our budgetary methodology will achieve three unprecedented objectives . It will guarantee fiscal balance, ending the write-off of debt and issuance; it will force the State to take charge and absorb the cost of eventual recessions; and for periods of abundance such as the coming years, it will force the return of excess revenue to society through tax cuts,” he explained.
In the middle of the meeting, he had a confrontation with the Kirchnerist deputies who were present, to whom he said: “You don’t know how to add up.” He also called the legislators who do not support the Government’s economic program “rats.”
The end of the State's role as "nanny" and the warning for governors
In the last part of her presentation, Milei spoke directly about the need to debate the role that the State should have, and rejected the idea that it should be “like a nanny who has to take care of everything, from feeding to entertaining each Argentine.”According to him, this conception resulted in “50% poverty, the return of illiteracy, astronomical crime rates, an energy network that cannot withstand four days of heat in a row, armed forces that are abandoned and unable to respond; a tragically slow justice system, and public hospitals without supplies that cannot cure anyone.”
That is why, he said, “it is time to go back to basics and rethink some definitions. The fundamental thing that a national State has to do is to ensure macroeconomic stability and the rule of law . Period. Any other issue can be resolved through the market, or is the responsibility of sub-national governments.”
Along this conceptual path, Milei stated that reducing spending to achieve a surplus will be the core of the solution to the country's economic problems. He also stated that "the surplus will make the debt sustainable; the sustainability of the debt will lower the country risk and reduce the financial cost, contributing to increased investment and savings; and consequently to economic growth and real wages. In turn, it will imply less future tax pressure on taxpayers, which will mean a greater incentive to invest." According to him, to achieve this, the Government is promoting " the most ambitious structural reform plan in all of Argentine history."
Beyond this definition, the president did not give details about a possible immediate tax reduction.
Milei sent a direct message to the governors, with whom he has maintained a tense relationship since the very beginning of his administration, beyond some specific cases in which he has managed to coordinate the administration. The president assured that his government is carrying out "a war against public spending and Argentine costs," but warned that this must also occur in the provinces and municipalities.
“I say to the governors: fulfilling the commitment to reduce consolidated public spending to 25 points of GDP requires that the provinces, as a whole, make an additional adjustment of 60 billion dollars. We have already fulfilled our part of the agreement, now it is up to you ,” he said.
Towards the end, the President spoke directly to the deputies and senators, assuring them that the country is living “a pivotal moment” in its history and told them that he is confident that they will debate the Budget project “ with the responsibility and seriousness that our current situation requires.”
Javier Milei's parents and partner, Amalia Yuyito González, in one of the boxes of the Chamber of Deputies.
“Either we do exactly the opposite of what we have been doing for more than 100 years and stop sinking, or we continue doing the same, leave everything as it is, and maintain this rotten system that impoverishes Argentines every day. Those are the two paths. You should know, members of this honorable Congress, that the decision on which side of history you want to remain is yours. Then it will be the citizens who place you on the avenue of the righteous or on the corner of the miserable rats who bet against the country and its people,” he stressed.
Before closing, Milei quoted a phrase he attributed to Cicero, a Roman politician and philosopher: “The budget must be balanced; the treasury must be replenished; public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of public officials must be moderated and controlled, and aid to other countries must be eliminated so that Rome does not go bankrupt. People must learn again to work instead of living at the expense of the State.”
There, he sent another message to the Kirchnerist deputies: “This phrase is more than 2000 years old, you have not learned anything from it,” he said.
The president closed his presentation with the slogan that characterizes La Libertad Avanza: “May the forces of heaven be with us.”
The complete project
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