Mieli defended his economic plan and once again distanced himself from Mauricio Macri

The President Javier Milei The executive meeting is closed in front of more than 60 CEOs and executives from various companies from all industries.

After a day full of private debates, industry-specific diagnoses and specific questions from business about predictability, access to financing and tax relief, the The President began his speech with a central argument: maintaining macroeconomic order without resorting to corrections which he achieved in the first year of his management.

One of the first topics he addressed was the exchange rate and the creation of reserves. “If I had a rollover, what kind of thought is it that I have to have reserves that I have to pay?”” he asked, although he admitted that the “Kuka risk” conditioned this strategy in the first few months.

He explained that buying dollars without real demand for pesos is an “unfair mechanism” because it broadens the monetary base and creates more inflation. “Do you think it’s fair to artificially buy insurance by ruining those who have less?“, he told the audience. And he added: “Those who ask me to do this are asking me to ruin the lives of Argentines.”

The President also reviewed the exchange rate system. He defended the bands as a tool to curb volatility and reiterated that the goal is to move closer to a floating exchange rate. but “if the conditions are there.” The aim, he emphasized, is to avoid jumps that disrupt the economy just when it is beginning to stabilize.

“The biggest change in history”

Regarding the financial inheritance, he once again distanced himself from Mauricio Macri. He remembered that Cambiemos management took on net debt of almost $60,000 million and stated that “the budget adjustment was never made.” “Instead they increased the deficit. We made an adjustment of 15 points of GDP. We have a balanced budget,” he compared.

In this sense, he confirmed that his program does not rely on external funding to maintain it. However, he admitted this The government plans to go to the market to refinance maturities and did not rule out taking “something else” if the opportunity arises. “I change the term profile, lower the interest rate and save a few extra dollars in case I have problems. That seems more sensible to me,” he said.

The idea was reiterated by Economy Minister Luis Caputo, who opened the day and confirmed talks with banks about a repo. As he said, Between $6,000 and $7,000 million were offered for a January term of less than $5,000 million.. Milei admitted that if the market supports it, he could take the opportunity to add additional funds.

The pressure to accumulate reserves continued throughout the game. The government rules out an issue to increase the central bank’s cushion and they assure that this recomposition will occur as the economy generates more pesos. “If the debt is put on the market, I don’t have to buy reserves,” insisted Milei, who again questioned “buying reserves at the expense of impoverishing Argentines.”

He also made it clear that there will be no return to instruments like Leliqs or Lebacs. “We don’t want to go back to that because we don’t want more inflation in Argentina,” he said. And he recognized that Failure to meet the IMF’s reserve target could result in a request for exemptionHowever, he pointed out again that the cushion would lose relevance with the refinancing. However, for the organization it remains one of the pillars of the agreement, alongside zero emissions and budget balance.

Privatizations

Milei cited a combination of debt, rollover and privatization as alternatives to strengthening reserves. The latter, he explained, would allow assets to be added to the BCRA’s balance sheet without increasing liabilities. In the audience, Caputo, Vice President of Central Vladimir Werning, Chancellor Pablo Quirno and advisors Federico Furiase and Felipe Núñez as well as Karina Milei and deputy Lilia Lemoine listened attentively.

He also spoke about the connection with the United States. He assured that “only $2 billion” of the swap was used and minimized the idea of ​​a broader bailout. At the same time he realized this The dollar remains a safe asset for Argentinians and the foreign exchange market is still flat: “$200 million is traded every day and a single large transaction can flip the exchange rate.”

This diagnosis led him to a message to protected sectors. “To solve this problem, we need to open the economy more. Those who ask for protection demand lower salaries, they are preventative businessmen“, he launched in response to warnings about the rise in imports.

The trade balance, According to private estimates, it would end the year with a surplus of less than $8 billion. The boost associated with new investments is still missing for commercial growth of the reserves, mining and Vaca Muerta. For this reason, the financial route is gaining weight in the official strategy.

During the shutdown, Milei also focused on its relationship with the private sector and left a sentence that resonated widely. “I have to report to 47.5 million Argentines“Not three or four tormentors from the red circle who lived off the impoverishment of Argentina.”

Politically, he kept it that way Congress will be crucial to the speed of reform and left the door open for a legislative reorganization to change the government’s scope for action next year. And he left another definition for 2025: “If I don’t solve the problems, it would be great if my contract wasn’t renewed.“.