Argentine President Javier Milei is set to give a conference in Congress to announce the 2025 budget on Sunday evening following a choppy week of major political victories and losses. The president is expected to speak for 40 minutes, and opposition lawmakers have not confirmed their attendance.

“I will present the National Budget under the ZERO DEFICIT rule to the Argentine Congress,” Milei posted on X the week prior.

Argentine governments are legally mandated to file the budget bill before the end of September 15, although previous presidents have not presented it personally in Congress, a task usually given to economy ministers. Milei has not given speeches in the Legislative Palace since March 1, when he opened the year’s sessions. He is expected to reappear in the house on Sunday at 9:00 p.m. after a turbulent week in which he had significant wins, such as the Chamber of Deputies securing his veto against retiree pension increases and the International Monetary Fund ousting its Western Hemisphere Director Rodrigo Valdés from his negotiations with Argentina.

The same week, however, saw the government caught feeding fake news to journalists to cover up the fact that police officers had thrown tear gas at a 10-year-old girl, and the Senate striking down an executive order granting US$100 million to intelligence services.

Also, on Thursday night, Argentina’s Senate passed a law to increase funding for universities, which Milei opposes. Less than 24 hours later, the president said he planned to veto it.

Reaching zero deficit has been the president’s central mandate since taking office and members of his economic cabinet have repeated that spending cuts are the only way to halt the country’s record-high inflation. Monthly inflation rates have decreased, hitting a floor of 4% in May, but consumer spending and industrial production have slumped as a result of the administration’s economic measures.

In July, the Economy Ministry published a preview of 2025’s budget, saying that the official U.S. dollar to peso rate would be AR$1,061 at the end of 2024 — meaning the government aims to maintain its 2% monthly crawling peg rate. The country’s agricultural sector is pushing for a greater devaluation to make its exports more competitive.

The document also forecast a 139.7% inflation rate for 2024. Cumulative inflation in the first eight months of the year reached 94.8%, around 80 points lower than 2023’s 211%. Moreover, the government predicted that the country’s GDP would decline by 3.5% in 2024, a much greater slump than 2023’s 1.6% contraction.

Whether or not the administration maintains those predictions and those numbers feature in Milei’s speech remains to be seen.

“I invite you to witness a historic milestone that will be a turning point in Argentina’s economic history,” Milei said in his X post, concluding with the usual “Long live freedom, dammit” in all caps.