Economists warn electing far-right Milei would spell 'devastation' for Argentina

More than 100 economists including Thomas Piketty and Jayati Ghosh published an open letter ahead of the country’s 19 November election.

The election of the radical rightwing economist Javier Milei as president of Argentina would probably inflict further economic “devastation” and social chaos on the South American country of 46 million, a group of more than 100 leading economists has warned.

The economists said they understood the “deep-seated desire for economic stability” among voters, given Argentina’s frequent financial crises and recurring bouts of very high inflation.

Four in 10 citizens currently live in poverty and annual inflation is close to 140% – a crisis Milei has vowed to fix by defeating his rival, Argentina’s finance minister, Sergio Massa, and taking dramatic measures such abolishing the central bank and dollarizing the economy.

“However, while apparently simple solutions may be appealing, they are likely to cause more devastation in the real world in the short run, while severely reducing policy space in the long run.” warned the letter.

At: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/08/argentina-election-javier-milei-economists-warning

Far-right Argentine presidential candidate Javier Milei brandishes a chainsaw - his unofficial campaign symbol - ahead of the general election on October 22nd, in which he placed second.

He faces centrist Economy Minster Sergio Massa in the November 19th runoff.

While some of Milei's more extreme pledges - such as eliminating most of the federal budget, abolishing the central bank and dollarizing the dollar-starved economy - are unlikely to be implemented without congressional approval, others such as capital flight deregulation and shock devaluation (by 200% or more) are likely to push Argentina into a collapse at least as severe as its traumatic 2001 crash.