Argentina is in the final stretch towards uncertain presidential elections in the midst of a political and economic fire: the value of the dollar has already crossed the psychological barrier of 1,000 pesos and both the government and the until now main opposition coalition accuse Javier Milei of seeking a scorched earth economically and socially to accelerate his path to the Casa Rosada.
In an unusual coincidence, both the ruling Peronism and the social-liberal coalition Together for Change (JxC), this Tuesday described Milei as “irresponsible”, who on Monday defined the Argentine peso as “excrement” and called on the population to Do not save in pesos and take refuge in the dollar.
“Milei is seeking hyperinflation,” insisted several leaders, including Emanuel Alvarez Agis, Cristina Kirchner’s former vice minister of Economy, who referred to a planned plan by the ultra-liberal populist candidate, who advocates closing the Central Bank, ending the peso as currency and dollarize the Argentine economy.
“They are not innocent statements, since Milei argued that he had committed to a series of banks 30,000 million dollars to be able to dollarize the market dollar and when he said it, it was worth 250. Since he does not have those 30,000 million, he is trying to take the dollar to the level at which you can dollarize because you basically pulverize people’s dollar income,” said Álvarez Agis.
The anxiety was visible today in the financial center of Buenos Aires, with police operations in the exchange house and “arbolitos” (the clandestine money changers) taking refuge in galleries and passages to offer a good without a certain price, the coveted greenback. The confusion was also evident in the hundreds of informal exchange houses that are spread throughout the Argentine capital, with long lines of citizens seeking to change their pesos into dollars as soon as possible.
The four associations that bring together banking entities released a harsh statement in which they called for “a mature and responsible political leadership.”
“Recommending not to renew deposits does nothing other than generate concern in a sector of the population. The race for the presidency should be based on the competition of ideas and the ability to implement them.”
The banks’ request fell on deaf ears. Ramiro Marra, candidate for mayor of Buenos Aires for La Libertad Avanza (LLA), Milei’s party, was clear on social networks: “Today more than ever: do not save in pesos. Take care of your money, it cost you a lot to earn it.”
While sectors of Peronism accused Milei of “economic terrorism” and asked for the ex officio intervention of a prosecutor, Sergio Massa, Minister of Economy and Peronist candidate for president, is on the ropes: not even in his worst nightmares did he imagine that he would reach the gates of the elections, in which the possibility of coming third is real, in such a bad economic situation. The peso, which between 1991 and 2001 was worth the same as the dollar, is today a currency that no one wants.
Milei, who is clear that today he has the most powerful voice to do and undo in the Argentine political scene, insisted this Tuesday that the only way out is the one he proposes: “Anything else leads us to be the slum of shanties) in the world. We have been saying it for years. Argentina has a future, but only if that future is liberal.”
Patricia Bullrich, the JxC candidate, attacked both Milei and Massa: “Between Massa’s arsonist, who is leading us to hyperinflation, and Milei’s irresponsibility, who encourages the exchange rate run, Argentines are anguished by the present and the future.”
Argentina, the third largest economy in Latin America, has already gone through two hyperinflations in relatively recent times. The first, in 1989, at the end of the government of Radical (social democrat) Raúl Alfonsín, and the second, in 1991, under the presidency of the Peronist Carlos Menem. This time, however, the battle is stark and obvious: Milei seeks for Hiper to explode while Peronism governs, while Massa seeks to delay it as long as possible and leave the economic chaos to the government that takes office on December 10.