One of the richest nations in the world along with Australia in the early 20th century, Argentina serves as a cautionary tale after decades of socialist policies caused the South American nation to tumble down the global league table.
The first two years of Milei’s presidency witnessed extraordinary improvements in the country’s economic circumstances contrary to the warnings of mainstream economists and politicians within and outside Argentina.
The rate of annual inflation fell from triple to double digits on the back of massive reductions in government spending, ending 2025 at a seven-year low.
Milei slashed federal spending by more than five percentage points including halving the number of government departments, both unprecedented reductions in modern history.
Economic growth boomed and has remained high, forecast by the IMF to reach 4 per cent in each of 2026 and 2027, around double the forecasts for Brazil and Mexico.
After an initial modest increase, the rate of poverty in the nation also fell from more than half to 32 per cent. A drastic reduction in property regulations boosted the supply of rental housing and rents fell significantly.
Despite (or sometimes because of) these significant wins, the new president continued to face ferocious domestic political and media opposition.
Concerns his political party would perform badly in the nation’s October 2025 midterm congressional elections, prompting a return to socialist policies, triggered massive volatility in Argentinian financial markets.
This was ultimately quelled by a $US20 billion swap provided by the Trump administration (later repaid in full by January 2026).
Milei’s new political party, Freedom Advances, performed strikingly well in the October midterm elections, winning more than 40 per cent of the vote, becoming the most powerful single party in the congress and within grasp of majorities with other, smaller right-wing parties.
As the interviews and articles make clear, the first half of Milei’s presidency was hobbled by a congress controlled by opposition parties. As of February the president and his party have been formulating major reforms to labour and tax regulations, the criminal code, which if successful should supercharge the nation’s economic revival and increase the odds the president receives a second term in the elections scheduled for late 2027.
