Argentina
Milei defended the economic course in New York and foreshadowed more reforms if his weight in Congress improves
The President spoke before business leaders, financiers and diplomats at Citi’s headquarters in Manhattan, after his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly. He defended the fiscal adjustment, linked lower inflation to an improvement for society and again criticized Peronism.
Javier Milei spoke in New York before more than 300 executives, investors and diplomats in a conference focused on the progress of the economic program and his defense of economic freedom. The meeting took place at Citi’s headquarters in Manhattan, after his participation in the United Nations General Assembly, and was organized by the Fundación Federalismo y Libertad with the support of the International Republican Institute.
During his remarks, the President said his government had done the most for vulnerable sectors and linked that outcome to the slowdown in inflation. In that context, he said the drop in inflation returned US$100 billion to Argentines and defended the 30% cut in public spending.
He also defended his security policy by saying that, when he took office, there were 9,000 pickets a year and that now that figure is zero. He also said his administration records the lowest crime indicators in history.
Looking ahead to the electoral scenario, Milei said that if La Libertad Avanza repeats the result of the last election, it could win a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and come close to a quorum in the Senate. Based on that hypothesis, he anticipated a new stage of changes and spoke of driving an unprecedented number of reforms.
In another passage, he reaffirmed Argentina’s claim to sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands and stressed, according to the media reports, that that position is being pursued through peaceful means. He also defended the reform of the Central Bank’s charter and said that any eventual breach of the monetary rule would carry a very high reputational cost for any future administration.
The President also returned to his criticism of Peronism as he described the situation he inherited at the start of his administration. In that context, he made a reference to Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof, who was also in New York.
Among those attending were Economy Minister Luis Caputo; Argentina’s ambassador to the United States, Alec Oxenford, whom Ámbito identified as Alejandro Oxenford; and Peter Lamelas. According to La Nación, the audience included executives from companies such as Chevron, Rio Tinto, BHP, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, Google, Citi, JP Morgan and HSBC, among others.
According to La Nación, later Milei was scheduled to take part in a closed-door roundtable at Americas Society/Consejo de las Américas with Susan Segal and a small group of business leaders. That outlet also said that on Thursday he will speak at The Economic Club of New York and that, before returning to Argentina, he will hold a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do any original reporting on this event.
