Argentina registers the first public surplus since 2008, 300,000 dollars in the first quarter, announces Javier Milei

Argentina managed to register in the first quarter of 2024 a budget surplus of 275 billion pesos (300,000 dollars), the new president Javier Milei expresses his joy, evoking a “historic achievement”, reports AFP.

Javier Milei pointed out that Argentina registered its first quarterly public surplus since 2008, News.ro cites.

In the first quarter of 2024, the Argentine state recorded a surplus of approximately 275 billion pesos ($309,000), the Argentine president announced on national television on Monday.

“This is the first quarter with a financial surplus since 2008,” he pointed out, referring to the first year of government of his leftist political rival Cristina Kirchner.

It is about “a release of historic proportions on a world scale”, boasted Javier Milei, who came to power in December.

“If the state does not spend more than it collects and has not resorted to issuing (currency), there is no inflation. This is not magic,” added Javier Milei, an ultraliberal economist who defines himself as an “anarcho-capitalist.”

The Argentine head of state promised to bring the budget deficit to zero – a more ambitious goal than the one imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with which Argentina concluded a loan agreement of the amount of 44 billion dollars.

To this end, he launched a draconian austerity program, which includes a paralysis of public works, the dismissal of civil servants, the closure of administrations, the reduction of subsidies and the “freezing” of the budget, in the context in which inflation has reached 290% per year, and half of population lives in poverty.

“Don’t hope for a solution through public spending”, warns Javier Milei, quoted by AFP (News.ro)