Argentina: Only half of the ministries to remain
Before the elections, Argentina's new president talks about how much he wants to change the country. Now things are slowly becoming concrete. The number of ministries is to be halved in order to cut costs. A huge wave of redundancies in the public sector is also planned.
As announced during the election campaign, the new Argentinian government of ultra-liberal President Javier Milei has embarked on a radical austerity course. "All contracts concluded by the state last year are under review," said government spokesman Manuel Adorni.
The number of ministries will be halved from 18 to 9 and staff at various levels of government will be reduced by 34 percent. "It is important to understand that the state must shrink. We are dealing with a bloated state apparatus," said Adorni. "It is important to understand that the salaries of public sector employees must be paid by the 47 million Argentinians."
Milei had been defended as Argentina's new president on Sunday. He had won the election with radical demands for an economic and political turnaround. He announced that he would introduce the US dollar as legal tender, abolish the central bank and many ministries and drastically cut social spending. He has since softened his tone considerably and postponed or toned down many of his original plans.
Argentina is in the midst of a severe economic crisis. The inflation rate is over 140 percent and around 40 percent of people in the once rich country live below the poverty line. South America's second-largest economy is suffering from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of many tax revenues. The national currency, the peso, continues to lose value against the US dollar and the mountain of debt is constantly growing.
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In line with the new president's austerity measures, the US dollar is expected to be recognized as legal tender in Argentina. Due to the budget cuts, several ministries, including those that were planned for dismissals, may need to reorganize or possibly close their operations within the government's ministries folder.
Source: www.ntv.de
