Milei's economic reforms stall in Argentina Congress

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 A U-turn for the omnibus.

00:03 Argentine legislators on Tuesday blocked the advance of President Javier Melle's sweeping

00:08 economic reform package, sending it back to committee for a rewrite.

00:12 Outside Parliament, protesters and opposition leaders celebrated the setback for the controversial

00:18 bill.

00:19 "We are very happy.

00:21 It's obvious that with this massive popular pressure, the bill could not have passed.

00:27 It is a bill that attacks the rights of all the Argentine people, as well as the land,

00:31 the water and all the common goods that we have in this country."

00:36 The omnibus bill initially contained more than 600 articles.

00:40 Negotiations in Congress had whittled that down to around 300.

00:44 They include the privatization of state-owned companies, the delegation of some legislative

00:49 powers to the president, removing government controls on the economy and raising rates

00:54 for public services and utilities.

00:57 Melle was elected last year in a resounding upset amid the latest in a long series of

01:01 economic crises for Argentina.

01:04 A self-described libertarian anarcho-capitalist, he wants to radically cut spending and bring

01:09 down budget deficits he says are driving inflation that has now topped 200 percent.

01:15 Already Melle has devalued the peso by more than half, cut subsidies for fuel and transportation,

01:21 eliminated ministries and ditched hundreds of economic regulations as well as slashing

01:26 thousands of government jobs.

01:28 Those moves met with approval by the International Monetary Fund, which recently approved the

01:33 release of $4.7 billion in loans.

01:36 But they've also sparked massive protests, as Argentines face steep cuts to the subsidies

01:42 and services on which many depend.

Category

Transcript

Recommended