MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei announces virtual meeting with IMF

Milei vowed not to “take away the protection of the vulnerable” if elected president

Argentine presidential hopeful Javier Milei of La Libertad Avanza Wednesday confirmed he would be holding a virtual conference with International Monetary Fund (IMF) authorities on Friday. The single most-voted candidate in last Sunday's Open, Mandatory, and Simultaneous Primary (PASO) elections said he would be joined by his “economic council.”

 This council is made up of his fellow economists Carlos Rodríguez, Darío Epstein, and most notably, former Economy Minister Roque Fernández.

Milei insisted “there will be no problem” with the IMF because his adjustment program they propose “is much tougher than that of the Fund.”

“We have a much stronger adjustment hypothesis. The IMF proposes a fiscal number and the way in which it is reached is everyone's problem. Historically, adjustments in Argentina fell on the private sector, that is, the producers of wealth. The big difference we propose is that we will go against politics,” he added.

Regarding his strategy for the Oct. 22 elections, Milei said he will continue spreading his “message to society” to convince it that “the solution is on the side of freedom.”

Should he become president, ”we are not planning to fire people (from the public sector) but to reassign them. The political staff does not have to be in public companies. The technical cadres and the good people who work will all stay. We are preparing a reform of the State,“ he added.

He also pledged not to ”take away the protection of the vulnerable“ and insisted that he had won the PASO elections among these people.

Milei also insisted his crusade was ”not against a certain politician or to look for those votes but to try to continue carrying the message” of libertarianism.