Even though the London Economist had earlier stated their preference for Patricia Bullrich over Javier Milei in the just-concluded Argentine presidential elections, they have now issued an editorial with blunt marching orders to President-elect Milei as to what he has to do.
After noting that “the radical libertarian is taking over a country on the brink,” the editorial gets right to the point:
“To face Argentina’s demons, Mr. Milei’s government will have to take a trio of emergency economic measures. First, rapid belt-tightening to bring the fiscal deficit down: unaffordable pensions and fuel subsidies are an obvious area to target. Second, liberalization of the exchange-rate system even though this will lead to a devaluation and spur inflation. This is inevitable: Argentina no longer has the dollars it needs to defend the official rates. And lastly the country needs to restructure its debts to lower them to sustainable levels.”
(One can’t help wondering how Argentina’s millions of impoverished pensioners will feel about how “unaffordable pensions … are an obvious area to target.” This is also a leading demand of the IMF in its negotiations with Argentina.)
