He The government managed to approve the 2026 budget as a whole. After 9 p.m., Vice President Victroria Villarruel called for a vote, which resulted in 46 yes votes, 25 no votes and one abstention.
The 2026 budget has been approved, but voting in the Senate remains tense
This first vote to define mechanics filled Bullrich’s official troops with optimism. They saw this as a concrete sign for the vote in particular and for the fight against preventing new changes to the text.
However, during the debate in the House of Representatives last week, Martín Menem and the LLA allies used the same tactics to protect the article that repealed university funding and the emergency disability laws, and it did not work: eventually the entire Chapter XI was rejected. Article 30 is in Chapter II, now in focus.
During the session, the government had to negotiate with governors and blocs against time. Interior Minister Diego Santilli sat down in Bullrich’s office to follow the debate minute by minute and coordinate strategy. Eduardo “Lule” Menem, Karina Milei’s right-hand man, was also in the “house”.
As he knew iProfessional From parliamentary sources, the executive warned several governors that if they wanted to seek the nation’s consent to borrow abroad, the budget must be approved without further changes in the form presented by MPs. In the Senate, meanwhile, the governing party sought not only yes votes, but also abstentions (which are considered absences in the Senate) in order to more easily achieve a majority.
The problem for the LLA is that Article 30 is rejected not only by the 28 senators of the Peronist Chamber (renamed “Interbloc Popular”), but also by members of allied blocs such as the UCR. Among the 10 radicals, Maximiliano Abad announced that he would generally vote for but against this point, a position shared in principle by Flavio Fama and Daniel Kroneberger.
Dollar, Inflation and Spending: What the 2026 Budget Says and Why It’s Critical for the Government
Milei ruled without a budget in his first year, namely 2023 had agreed Sergio Massa (his rival for the runoff election) is suspending consideration of the project until the next president is chosen. The surprise of his victory led him to expand the previous year’s law and administer items by decree and delegated authority.
In 2024, the ruling party immediately withdrew its plan expenditure and revenue, arguing that the opposition wanted to push through changes that would lead to a budget deficit. This year, Milei finally moved forward on the 2026 budget, in part because he won more seats in the midterm elections, but mostly because of the Pressure from the IMF.
The governors also want Milei to once and for all receive a budget law that sets a minimum benchmark for the government’s economic framework and the distribution of resources between provinces.
The project determines the sum of The nation-state’s current and capital spending for 2026 is $148 billion and expects excess financial results of $2.7 billion. The provinces will be allocated $74 billion for various items.
Aside from that, The text assumes annual inflation of 10.1% for December 2026, economic growth of 5%, a primary budget surplus of 2.2% of GDP and a dollar of $1,423. For the opposition, these estimates are “absolutely contradictory,” said Peronist Jorge Capitanich in the debate, after pointing out that economists had different forecasts.
A tool for Caputo and debts, taxes and other important points
One of the issues that most interests Minister Capto is Article 56, the expands the executive branch’s tools to address debt maturities. The text authorizes this portfolio to “carry out liability management activities, whatever the instrument that expresses it.”
Operations may include the purchase, sale and exchange of financial instruments such as bonds, stocks, currency repos, interest rates, securities, options “and all other financial transactions customary in the markets.”
The change is that the current regulations (the so-called “Guzmán Law”) require this Any restructuring entails an improvement in the amounts, conditions or interestduring this article The 2026 budget expands the range of options and eliminates the obligation to achieve an improvement in conditions.
This is a very important tool for the Minister of Economy because it gives him greater flexibility when exchanging debts or extending maturities and, moreover, because of the context that he has to deal with today In January there is a risk of due dates that go beyond this $4.2 billion.
In terms of trade balance, however, the 2026 Budget forecasts exports to increase by 10.6% and imports to increase by 11%. On the other hand, the project exempts diesel imports from paying taxes on liquid fuels and carbon dioxide.
This measure also extends to commercialization on the domestic market in 2026 to cover peaks in energy demand that cannot be covered by local production. The tax exemption for renewable energies will also be extended until 2045.
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