That there was no money was the main message left by Argentine President Javier Milei’s first interventions.

The expectation of knowing about the economic measures that will be implemented during his administration ended on Tuesday afternoon when the Secretary of the Economy, Luis Caputo, announced them.

Argentinians wanted to know how big the announced budget adjustment is, with which they want to put a country with 40% poverty and 143% inflation on its feet.

The “shock” is imminent. Milei has said and reiterated that the cut in government spending will be equivalent to 5% of gross domestic product, although he has not provided details on how he will achieve this reduction and which sectors will be most affected.

For the time being, the number of ministries has been reduced from 18 to nine.

Caputo “is accompanied by a strong cut, with some expansion of social services,” said government spokesman Manuel Adorni, who added that the reorganization of public finances is “the priority” in a management that “will strictly respect the budget balance.”

Many of the measures that Milei outlined during his campaign, such as the dollarization of the economy or the dismantling of the Central Bank, were missing from his first speech on Sunday. In any case, the minority in Congress is unlikely to assume that the first package of announcements will focus on decisions that can be adopted directly by the executive branch without the need for parliamentary approval.

These are the measures that Caputo announced:

Caputo pointed out that they inherit the suppressed inflation and expected it to be worse than before for a few months. “It is better to tell a comfortable truth than a comfortable lie,” he quoted the president.

That is why the Universal Child Benefit is doubled and the Food Card is increased by 50%. (JO)