Martina Jaureguy 
President Javier Milei will not allow any new public spending unless Argentina’s economy is seeing long-term, structural revenue growth, he said in a speech Sunday night to present the 2025 national budget. He also promised to veto all laws that go against his goal of fiscal surplus.
Milei gave his first speech presenting a national budget at the Lower House with most of the opposition lawmakers absent and dozens of his supporters shouting and chanting from the balconies. Accredited journalists were not allowed to work from the balcony assigned to them. Outside, people gathered to protest by banging pots and pans.
In his speech, Milei gave no details of the contents of the budget bill, which will be addressed and voted on by Congress. Lawmakers and press did not have access to the bill until after he finished speaking. He also neglected to make any mention of lifting currency controls, a priority for the business community.
Instead, he announced that from now on, his government will apply an “unbreakable fiscal rule” to this and subsequent budgets: public spending will be automatically tied to fiscal surplus, and he will only fulfill his promise to lower taxes once there is structural growth in government incomes.
“For this to be possible, Argentina is in for a serious debate about what the state should and shouldn’t be responsible for,” he said, adding that the state had in the past acted as a “nanny” that had taken responsibility for everything including feeding people. He also railed against the concept of social justice, which he called “not only unjust, but violent.”
Milei stated that the government would focus on achieving a fiscal surplus to pay interest on Argentina’s debt. They plan to cut all non-automatic expenses, including transfers to the provinces, and reduce other government expenses in real terms against inflation. This message is primarily aimed at investors, who should remain alert to the scarcity of dollars, leading to uncertainty regarding Argentina’s payment of its obligations.
“Politicians know very well that when they increase public spending, they are putting money in people’s pockets on one side to take away twice as much from the other pocket,” Milei said. “That is why we vetoed a bill that aimed to increase public spending that this Congress approved, and we will veto all bills that endanger fiscal balance.”
Two weeks ago, Milei used the power of veto for the first time to overturn a pensions raise that had previously been approved by Congress. On Friday, he also announced that he plans to veto a law to increase funding for universities approved by lawmakers hours earlier.
“We will not be complicit in scamming the Argentine people with a populist measure,” Milei said, adding that Congress is “the place that birthed all the populist measures that have ruined this country.”
“The only situation in which we will discuss increasing public spending is when that request comes accompanied by an explanation of which cuts can be made to cover for that increase,” the president added. “Otherwise, it will be vetoed.”
A document released by the Economy Ministry after the speech said the government expects Argentina’s GDP to grow by 5% in 2025, 5% in 2026, and 5.5% in 2027. By December of next year, they expect the official nominal dollar exchange rate to reach AR$1,207 (it is currently at AR$980.50), fiscal surplus to reach 1.3% of GDP, and inflation to sink to 18.3%.
Usually, economy ministers are in charge of filing and explaining the budget bill in Congress, while also answering questions from deputies in the Lower House budget commission. However, Milei said that he had decided to present it himself with a speech on the house floor, since he is the first economist to serve as president of Argentina, and also wanted to explain the new budget rules personally.
Political reaction
Opposition lawmakers criticized Milei’s speech for focusing on investors, instead of citizens or the national economy. “I was surprised that in a budget presentation he didn’t talk about GDP growth, inflation, exports and imports, and exchange rate,” Peronist Unión por la Patria Deputy Germán Martínez told the press in Congress. “The speech didn’t even mention anything to do with the lives of Argentine citizens.”
Left-wing Deputy Nicolás del Caño wrote on X that “Milei’s zero deficit is only reached at the expense of brutal cuts against public education, pensioners, public healthcare and the working class, all to pay the fraudulent IMF debt.”
Another Unión por la Patria Deputy, Daniel Arroyo, said the speech was “just a show” that set Argentina back by a century. “The government didn’t increase spending this year,” he told Delta radio station, mentioning that the 2024 budget was not approved last year and that the government is therefore working with the 2023 budget. “The president is setting the state aside and letting the market figure things out however it can.”
“The president came here to announce the budget and left us with only attacks and contradictions,” wrote Mariela Coletta, a deputy from the centrist Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) party, on X. “He said they made cuts while keeping the vulnerable in mind, but what happens with pensioners that earn a pittance and the 70% of poor children?” The UCR has supported several of Milei’s proposals and is part of the so-called “friendly opposition.”
