What Javier Milei could learn from Peru’s economic successes
Argentina’s libertarian president wants to rip up the rule book. He shouldn’t
![Illustration of a boat with an Argentinian flag sailing towards the sun with the Peruvian Sol symbol in it.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240224_AMD001.jpg)
Since taking office in December Javier Milei, Argentina’s new libertarian president, has wasted little time in trying to implement sweeping reforms. He has had one setback: earlier this month an “omnibus” bill of 664 articles was withdrawn after Mr Milei’s party failed to get enough support from Congress. However, Mr Milei has taken the “chainsaw” he promised to Argentina’s bloated state: the peso was devalued by 50% and annual subsidies worth 0.7% of GDP have started to be phased out. The number of government ministries has been reduced from 18 to nine. This week Mr Milei will describe his grand plans to the Conservative Political Action Conference in the United States, full of Donald Trump supporters. He will do so after meeting Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, in Buenos Aires.
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This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Lessons from Lima”
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