Javier Milei Already Taking a Chainsaw to Argentina's Rampant Inflation

Javier Milei promised to get to work to turn around Argentina’s struggling economy. After decades of left-wing economic policies under Peronism, the people of this South American nation had enough last year. Inflation is through the roof in Argentina, where 40 percent of the population now lives in poverty. While the nation’s left-leaning political elements tried to cast Milei as insane and a threat to democratic norms, the Argentinian people saw that the economy needed radical changes, and who else to lead that than the man who wields a chainsaw at political rallies, who wants to wage war against “s**t leftists.”

He rolled out a hefty omnibus bill last month, loaded with reforms. Earlier this month, Milei delivered a “fiery” speech, promising to accelerate his reform agenda to right the ship, “Whether that's by law, presidential decree or by modifying regulations." He’s doing something right because inflation has dropped since he’s taken office (via Reuters):

The Associated Press has more:

Argentina’s inflation slowed in February for a second consecutive month, as right-wing President Javier Milei continues to push austerity and deregulation measures in an effort to revive the country’s struggling economy.
According to figures released Tuesday by the government’s INDEC statistics agency, Argentina’s monthly inflation slowed down to 13.2% in February, compared to 20.6% in January and 25.5% in December. On a yearly basis, however, inflation remains the highest in three decades, topping 276.2% in February.
Government officials and analysts foresee a surge in prices in March due to a combination of increases in the price of energy, fuel, private education and medical services, among others.
Milei’s government said in a statement that February’s inflation rate was the result of a “strong fiscal discipline.”

The problem here is that let’s say, Milei gets the lion's share of his reforms passed. He can only serve one more four-year term. Eight years and that’s if he wins re-election, doesn’t appear to be long enough to turn things around. All it takes is for another lefty to win, and Argentina remains an economic trainwreck.

For now, however, take a victory lap, President Milei.

Argentina has shale oil and shale gas in the western part of the country. Called Vaca Muerta.

What they have done, for years not a result of the new guy, is they have created their own internal price of oil and done it by backstabbing the IMF. This has enabled them to get both oil and gas to flow.

In their case, the gas is probably more important. They are going to pipe it throughout South America, and his will erase an LNG customer for the US.

So this new guy has a lot more obstacles facing him than just his populism facing the local elites. The IMF are raging and the US will get around to raging.

There are usually country specific ETFs, but they will be composed of stock in companies in the country. Those companies may have nothing to do with gas or oil.

I do think their future is bright if they can find a way to default on the IMF. Just outright default. There is no bankruptcy courts for sovereign debt so it will always “loom” and Argentine ships on the high seas could be seized, but the answer to that is don’t build any ships.

Gas and oil are everything. Printed pieces of paper called money . . . not so much.

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