Argentine President Javier Milei announced on Monday evening that, for the first time since 2008, Argentina registered a 0.2 percent surplus of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during the first quarter of the year.
The president declared the achievement a “feat of historic proportions at a world level.”
Milei addressed the nation in a national broadcast accompanied by Economy Minister Luis Caputo and the president of the Argentine Central Bank Santiago Bausili. In the roughly 15-minute message, Milei said Argentina has “traveled more than half the way” through the implementation of the “shock therapy” policies his administration promised when assuming the presidency in December, intended to avert a complete economic collapse.
Cadena nacional del Presidente Javier Milei. pic.twitter.com/FNoA98XTT7
— Oficina del Presidente (@OPRArgentina) April 23, 2024
“This is the last stretch of a heroic effort that the Argentines are making — and for the first time in a long time, this time, the effort will be worth it,” Milei said.
“Contrary to the forecasts of most political leaders, professional economists on television and in the media, specialized journalists, and a large part of the Argentine establishment, I would like to announce that the national public sector recorded a financial surplus of more than 275 billion pesos [roughly $310 million] in March,” Milei said, “thus achieving a financial surplus of 0.2 percent of the GDP during the first quarter of the year, after almost 20 years.”
Milei noted that, while the concept of fiscal surplus may appear to be “simply a technical definition that does not affect the lives of Argentines,” it is “nothing less than the only possible starting point to end once and for all the inflationary hell” that Argentina has faced in recent years.
“The fiscal surplus is the cornerstone from which we build Argentina’s new era of prosperity,” he declared.
The Argentine president recalled that, when he took office in December 2023, Argentina faced a 15 percent deficit in its GDP, noting that Argentina faced fiscal deficits in 113 of the past 123 years.
After making the announcement, Milei dedicated a portion of his address to explaining the dire economic situation of Argentina at the time he took office, succeeding his predecessor, socialist former President Alberto Fernández.
“We had a deficit of five points of the GDP in the Treasury and a financial deficit of another ten points in the Central Bank,” Milei said. “We had an exchange rate gap of almost 200 percent between the official dollar and the free dollar and a monetary surplus similar to the one we had before the Rodrigazo, one of the worst crises in our history.”
“In addition to this, we had an unrecognized debt with importers for more than 50 billion dollars and a debt in pesos for the equivalent of 90 billion dollars,” Milei continued. “The agreement with the International Monetary Fund had collapsed and, during the first week of our government, inflation was running at 1.2 percent per day.”
“In other words,” he concluded, “we took office with an inflation rate of 7,600 percent per year, with a monetary surplus and a bankrupt Central Bank that would have taken inflation to 15,000 percent per year.”
Milei explained that, in light of Argentina’s dire economic situation, his administration has focused on eliminating the fiscal deficit to end inflation as well as applying the “shock therapy” economic measures.
“Today we can affirm without a doubt that, despite the opposition of a large part of Argentina’s economic and political establishment, despite those who systematically question our ideas,” Milei said, “and despite those who directly proclaim our failure to return to power, the government was right and our plan is working.”
“Because for us inflation is theft and the fiscal deficit is the cause of inflation. Therefore, zero deficit is not just a marketing slogan for this government — it is a commandment.” he continued.
The Argentine president concluded by recognizing the “heroic effort of the majority of Argentines who are suffering, but who know that this is the only possible path if we want a better future for our children.”
“There is not a day that goes by where the fortitude with which Argentines are facing this challenge does not amaze me and all those who accompany us,” Milei said.
“There is no alternative but to surrender to the feet of a people who have decided to abandon slavery and to undertake the long road through the desert towards the promised land,” he continued, “with the commitment that those of us who are part of this government will give our lives to get this country out of the hell we have received.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
