Buenos Aires, Dec. 21, (dpa/GNA) – The new Argentinian government of ultra-liberal President Javier Milei has begun to restructure the South American country’s strictly regulated economy.
“We are initiating the economic deregulation that Argentina so urgently needs,” said Milei in a televised address on Wednesday, announcing a decree with a total of 30 measures. These included repealing numerous laws regulating the labour and real estate markets.
In addition, all state-owned companies will be transferred to public limited companies in order to privatize them at a later date.
Thousands of people had taken to the streets in the capital Buenos Aires to protest against the new government’s liberal economic course. The protest remained largely peaceful after the government threatened harsh consequences in the event of street blockades.
Argentina is in the midst of a severe economic crisis. The inflation rate is over 160% and around 40% of people in the once-rich country live below the poverty line.
South America’s second-largest economy is suffering from a bloated state sector, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of tax revenues.
The national currency, the peso, continues to lose value against the US dollar at the same as Argentina’s mountain of public debt grows.