Milei Takes Office as Argentina Braces for Economic Reforms

Javier Milei has said his first set of measures will be presented to parliament in a matter of days. JUAN MABROMATA / AFP
Javier Milei has said his first set of measures will be presented to parliament in a matter of days. JUAN MABROMATA / AFP
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Milei Takes Office as Argentina Braces for Economic Reforms

Javier Milei has said his first set of measures will be presented to parliament in a matter of days. JUAN MABROMATA / AFP
Javier Milei has said his first set of measures will be presented to parliament in a matter of days. JUAN MABROMATA / AFP

Javier Milei will on Sunday be sworn in as Argentina's president, as the country steels itself for harsh spending cuts and economic reforms aimed at curbing rampant inflation.
The 53-year-old libertarian economist has vowed there will be no "half-measures" as he tackles decades of overspending, debt, and convoluted currency controls in Latin America's third-biggest economy, AFP reported.
The inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires is bringing together a diverse handful of world leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- the only EU leader who has maintained close ties to the Kremlin.
Chile's leftist leader Gabriel Boric and the King of Spain Felipe VI are also attending, as is Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro.
After taking the oath of office, Milei will give his first speech as president from the steps of parliament. He will later swear in a cabinet of nine ministers -- a major slimdown from the current 18.
He has said his first set of measures will be presented to parliament in a matter of days.
Milei's inauguration caps a meteoric rise for the former television panelist who entered politics only two years ago after grabbing public attention with his rants against the "thieving" establishment.
With his deliberately disheveled mop of hair and rock star persona, he would wave a powered-up chainsaw at political rallies, vowing to slash public spending and a bloated cabinet.
He vowed to "dynamite" the central bank, replace the ailing peso with the US dollar, and ditch key government ministries.
His red-faced fury struck a chord with voters fed up with economic crisis -- a phenomenon as Argentine as Malbec or the tango.
'Lights all flashing red'
Inflation has hit almost 140 percent year-on-year and 40 percent of the population lives in poverty.
"Like many of his predecessors, Milei will take office with the warning lights all flashing red," said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Argentina Project at the Washington-based Wilson Center.
But for Argentines, the future is mired in uncertainty over what exactly their new president plans to do.
With few lawmakers in Congress the hard reality of politics has quickly set in, and Milei has softened many of his stances, and allied with politicians he previously insulted, incorporating some into his cabinet.
Talk of shutting the Central Bank, dollarization, and welfare cuts have dissipated.
"Milei 2.0 will still face an uphill climb, but he appears to have adopted a more pragmatic agenda and sought the advice of more experienced political figures," said Gedan.
However, with central bank reserves in the red and no credit line Milei is facing "bare cupboards," added the analyst.
"His rescue strategy, including a rapid downsizing of the government, will be tough to swallow for a long-suffering population. Either way, the next few months will almost certainly see social and political turmoil."
'Stagflation'
Among the questions hanging over Argentines' heads in the coming days will be whether Milei will devaluate the strictly controlled peso and loosen the currency controls which have birthed a multitude of dollar exchanges.
Economist Victor Beker of the University of Belgrano said the first "litmus test" for Milei will be if he actually halts the money printing by the Central Bank that he has so derided, which funds much of the government's spending.
Milei has warned that it could take between 18 and 24 months to bring the country's inflation under control, warning of months of rising prices coupled with economic stagnation.
"There is going to be stagflation, because when you do a fiscal reordering, it will have a negative impact on economic activity," he added.
For 2023, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected a contraction of 2.5 percent in Argentine GDP.
Milei has said his first priority was eliminating the budget deficit -- 2.4 percent of GDP at the end of 2022 -- by the end of next year.
Many Argentines are worried about what comes next.
"I think inflation will continue, perhaps worse than before. I see nothing good in the future," said Martina Soto, 66, ahead of the inauguration.



Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Protest Leaders Taken from Hospital by Police

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladeshi police detectives on Friday forced the discharge from hospital of three student protest leaders blamed for deadly unrest, taking them to an unknown location, staff told AFP.

Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud and Abu Baker Majumder are all members of Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing this month's street rallies against civil service hiring rules.

At least 195 people were killed in the ensuing police crackdown and clashes, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals, in some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure.

All three were patients at a hospital in the capital Dhaka, and at least two of them said their injuries were caused by torture in earlier police custody.

"They took them from us," Gonoshasthaya hospital supervisor Anwara Begum Lucky told AFP. "The men were from the Detective Branch."

She added that she had not wanted to discharge the student leaders but police had pressured the hospital chief to do so.

Islam's elder sister Fatema Tasnim told AFP from the hospital that six plainclothes detectives had taken all three men.

The trio's student group had suspended fresh protests at the start of this week, saying they had wanted the reform of government job quotas but not "at the expense of so much blood".

The pause was due to expire earlier on Friday but the group had given no indication of its future course of action.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location.

Islam added that he had come to his senses the following morning on a roadside in Dhaka.

Mahmud earlier told AFP that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Three senior police officers in Dhaka all denied that the trio had been taken from the hospital and into custody on Friday.

- Garment tycoon arrested -

Police told AFP on Thursday that they had arrested at least 4,000 people since the unrest began last week, including 2,500 in Dhaka.

On Friday police said they had arrested David Hasanat, the founder and chief executive of one of Bangladesh's biggest garment factory enterprises.

His Viyellatex Group employs more than 15,000 people according to its website, and its annual turnover was estimated at $400 million by the Daily Star newspaper last year.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police inspector Abu Sayed Miah said Hasanat and several others were suspected of financing the "anarchy, arson and vandalism" of last week.

Bangladesh makes around $50 billion in annual export earnings from the textile trade, which services leading global brands including H&M, Gap and others.

Student protests began this month after the reintroduction in June of a scheme reserving more than half of government jobs for certain candidates.

With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina's Awami League.

- 'Call to the nation' -

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on Sunday but fell short of protesters' demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

Hasina has ruled Bangladesh since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.

Hasina continued a tour of government buildings that had been ransacked by protesters, on Friday visiting state broadcaster Bangladesh Television, which was partly set ablaze last week.

"Find those who were involved in this," she said, according to state news agency BSS.

"Cooperate with us to ensure their punishment. I am making this call to the nation."