Javier Milei in Los Angeles: 'We are not going to give up fiscal balance'

President Javier Milei delivered a major speech this Friday before business leaders in Los Angeles, United States, where he firmly defended his economic program, reviewed the achievements of his administration, and warned about the opposition's attempts to block the reforms.

Before a crowd of investors, Milei highlighted the progress achieved in just over a year and a half of government: "Argentina is growing at a rate of basically 6% per year and is doing so with inflation close to one and a half percent per month; that is, we went from levels of 300% to levels of 20%".

According to him, these results meant "lifting 12 million Argentines out of poverty in this short period of time, that is, 25% of the population".

The president admitted that markets still do not fully reflect this improvement, and he attributed investors' caution to the electoral calendar. "They prefer to wait until the elections are over and make long-term decisions knowing the new configuration of Congress. Which makes perfect sense", he stated.

Nevertheless, Milei made it clear that his plan doesn't depend on politics: "Our economic program works with or without political support. If we did not hesitate for a second to make the largest fiscal adjustment in the history of humanity as soon as we took office, we will not hesitate in the slightest to adjust two more points of GDP if these fiscal outrages are approved. We will not give up fiscal balance".

In that regard, he announced that he will send to Congress a bill to sanction legislators who approve budget deficits: "It is time for politicians to start paying for the fiscal crimes they commit".

Milei also emphasized the magnitude of the reforms already implemented: "It could be said that we are the most reformist government in Argentine history, given that we have already carried out more than 8,000 structural reforms, including deregulations, regulatory changes, and tax reductions".

He also highlighted the importance of the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), which, according to him, "guarantees that the economic conditions under which a company makes an investment will not be arbitrarily altered by the State".

The President also highlighted Argentina's potential in energy, mining, agriculture, livestock, and artificial intelligence, and projected a prosperous future: "Our idea is to continue on this path until we reach public spending of no more than 25% of GDP. Thus, in fifteen years we could be in the same conditions as countries like Italy or Spain, and in a period of 30 to 40 years we could become a power, with income levels in line with those of Ireland or Switzerland".

Milei closed with a political message ahead of the October midterm elections: "If we were able to achieve all of the above with only 37 deputies and six senators and all the headwinds, imagine what we can achieve with twice as many seats and the wind at our backs".

He concluded with a promise: "Argentine society has already learned that the only way to transform the country forever is by deepening this reformist path. We will continue fully with the reforms. They will not stop us in any way. Long live freedom, damn it!".