Javier Milei on national broadcast: 'We eliminated the currency control forever'

In a message via national broadcast, President Javier Milei formalized the definitive lifting of the currency control and anticipated the entry of USD 32 billion as part of an ambitious international support package that includes the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and a Central Bank REPO. This is an unprecedented milestone for the Argentine economy.

President Javier Milei announced the end of the currency control forever, accompanied by an unprecedented avalanche of international financial support. Through a national broadcast filled with political and technical content, Milei communicated that the country will receive USD 32 billion, a package that will translate into gross reserves of USD 50 billion before May, allowing—according to his words—"to back all existing pesos" and consolidate monetary stability.

"We have eliminated the currency control from the Argentine economy forever," Milei stated in his message to the country.  "When I asked for your vote, I told you I was coming to fix the economy from the root, without shortcuts or gradualism," he recalled, visibly moved.

The financing package consists of an Extended Fund Facility from the IMF for USD 20 billion, of which USD 15 billion will be freely available in 2025. Additionally, USD 3.6 billion from other multilateral organizations (World Bank and IDB) and USD 2 billion in REPO from the Central Bank are added. In total, USD 19.6 billion will be disbursed immediately, marking the largest external support in decades.

"It's the first time in history that the IMF approves a program to support a plan that has already borne fruit," the president emphasized.  "We went from being the worst student in the world to being the example."

The president highlighted that never before, in the last 120 years, had Argentina achieved  "fiscal order, monetary order, and exchange order at the same time". In that line, he stressed that the fiscal adjustment "did not fall on good Argentines, but exclusively on the State". The structural cut—he considered—laid the foundations for sustainable growth.

"The adjustment assures us a growth floor of 4.5%, to which must be added the more than 1,700 structural reforms promoted via DNU 70, the Basic Law, and the deregulations of the Ministry," Milei explained.

Inflation—he said—is destined to collapse in the medium term. "There will no longer be issuance without backing, and that will definitively bury the inflationary tax that punished Argentines' pockets for years," he declared. Although he admitted that "this month there was an interruption in the disinflation process" due to  "the aberrant Guzmán Law," he assured that "the program's essentials shield the economy against any sabotage attempt."

Milei projected a future of accelerated growth, fueled by the recovery of private credit, the resurgence of mortgage credit, and an investment boom.  "Only those who know they can freely dispose of the fruits of their investment will invest," he said. Under that logic, the elimination of the currency control will be key for the arrival of productive capital.

"The economy will grow by stock recomposition, and soon we will stop talking about Chinese rates to talk about Argentine rates," he anticipated. In the president's words, this new economic cycle "will be the most dynamic of the last three years in the entire continent." And he concluded:  "Argentina will be great again."

During the speech, the President thanked the popular support and acknowledged  "the resilience of Argentines who endured the economic cleanup process during the first year of management." He also had a gesture for the 87 deputies who shielded the presidential vetoes against fiscal populism:  "They defended the surplus and prevented us from being taken back to the abyss."

Milei emphasized that, in the face of potential external shocks, his government will respond with more fiscal adjustment,  "but without touching the private sector, the true engine of the economy." In his words, "in a sea of volatility, we are no longer a wooden raft: we are a battleship."

"Our goal is to become the freest country in the world. And we will achieve it by lowering taxes, eliminating distortions, and strictly respecting private property," he insisted. "The wheel of illusion and disenchantment has been broken. This time it is different.  Don't come saying you've seen it before, because it's not like that. This time we're going all the way."