Getting rid of the Argentine peso, a long-term career for Milei if she wins elections

javier mileithe favorite candidate for the presidency of ArgentinaHe will need time to make good on his promise to eliminate the peso and reduce grain taxes if he wins the election, aides told Reuters, adding that he could avoid obstacles in Congress through the use of executive orders.

Ramiro Marra, part of Milei’s inner circle and his party’s candidate for mayor of the city of Buenos Aires, said the ultra-liberal candidate – who won a stunning victory in a primary election this month – would dollarize the economy within two years and he would try to eliminate taxes on huge companies in the agricultural sector if he were elected.

He added, however, that voters for Milei, a self-described libertarian and ‘outsider’ politician who became known as a television economic analyst, they should be realistic that their proposals would take time.

“Management proposals, you have to understand that things do not happen by magic”, Marra told Reuters in an interview at the Buenos Aires office of his investment firm Bull Market Brokers, adding that whoever wins the October 22 election – or more likely a November runoff – will face “difficult months”.

Juan Napoli, who is running for a senate seat with Milei’s party, agreed that it will take time to lay the groundwork for the reforms.

Marra said dollarization would take between nine months and two years to become a reality, while he refused to give a timeframe for eliminating taxes on grain exports, the country’s main economic engine, though he said doing so was “our objetive”.

“We believe that we must get our foot off the agricultural sector”he said, citing “inefficiencies through creating direct, indirect taxes” about the sector. He cited the Chilean model of greater market freedom as inspiration.

Milei’s proposals have resonated with voters, battered by annual inflation of 113% and weak economic growth, many of which are angry with the traditional political forces: the ruling centre-left Peronist alliance and the conservative Juntos por el Cambio coalition.

Poverty affects almost four out of 10 people, the reference interest rate has shot up to 118%foreign exchange reserves have been depleted, and strict capital controls have spawned a series of parallel exchange markets.

Milei got the 30% of the votes in an open primary this month, ahead of 27% of the Peronist coalition and the 28% of the conservative opposition. The presidential candidates of the two blocks will be the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, and the former Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich, respectively.

Since Milei is unlikely to have a majority in Congress even if he wins the presidency, Marra said the goal would be “plant the seed” for a longer-term economic recovery, adding that the party would look for ways around any pushback from Congress.

That could include plebiscites or executive decrees, he said. “We are going to use all the alternatives that are proposed in the laws and in the National Constitution.”

Source: Reuters