In a staggering turnaround, Argentina’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, has reversed the country’s free-fall into the economic abyss and led a recovery that is simply astonishing.
In November 2023, Argentina’s inflation rate had soared to 211.4% and the country had a poverty rate of 41.7%; 19.5 million people lived below the poverty line. Ironically, just before the November election, The Guardian wrote about a letter signed by more than 100 economists warning that electing Milei would bring “devastation” to Argentina.
“Through an aggressive program of public spending cuts, eliminating bureaucracy, and reducing public sector jobs, he erased Argentina’s massive fiscal deficit, paving the way for a historic economic recovery,” Emmanuel Rincon noted in The Daily Economy.
By May 2025, the inflation rate had plummeted to 43.5%, and the consumer price index rose 1.5%, marking the lowest levels in five years. Wholesale prices dropped by 0.3% in May, the best number in 17 years.
“These achievements were no fluke,” Rincon wrote. “They stemmed from a clear strategy: fiscal balance, reduced public spending, ending monetary expansion as a financing tool, and economic deregulation.”
Alberto Cavallo, professor at Harvard Business School, pointed out:
The PriceStats PPP index, which compares thousands of identical products (electronics, food, and fuels), shows a sharp decline: the basket is now 1% cheaper than in the USA. … The relative costs with Brazil dropped by more than 20 points since January, due to the combined effect of the peso’s depreciation and the real’s appreciation against the dollar. Today, the basket of identical products is 3% cheaper in Argentina, below the average since 2016.
1/¿Qué está pasando con los precios relativos de bienes en Argentina desde la liberación parcial del cepo? El índice PPP de PriceStats, que compara miles de productos idénticos (electrónica, comida y naftas), muestra una fuerte caída: la canasta es hoy 1% más barata que en USA. pic.twitter.com/uF3ljmuAz3
— Alberto Cavallo (@albertocavallo) July 6, 2025
3/???????? Los costos relativos con Brasil bajaron más de 20 puntos desde enero, por el efecto combinado de la depreciación del peso y la apreciación del real frente al dólar. Hoy, la canasta de productos idénticos es 3% más barata en Argentina, por debajo del promedio desde 2016. pic.twitter.com/5TQ6qG6JzP
— Alberto Cavallo (@albertocavallo) July 6, 2025
Milei, like President Donald Trump, wants to open up his nation’s economy by utilizing its oil resources through drilling in the Vaca Muerta, a geologic formation located in the Neuquen Basin in northern Patagonia, where major deposits of shale oil and gas are found. “The libertarian leader wants to transform Argentina into a major oil producer and reshape an economy built on farming. It’s an existential project for all involved: Should Milei succeed in generating new oil wealth, he might manage to heave Argentina from its economic quagmire and persuade voters to keep backing his vision,” Bloomberg reported.