Argentina is counting the cost of its turn to Javier Milei. Politicians from Donald Trump to Giorgia Meloni and Nigel Farage will be closely watching what happens next
“Cambio, cambio.” Under the blazing sun, dozens of money changers are hawking US dollars along Florida Street, a bustling pedestrian strip in Buenos Aires. Known as arbolitos (“little trees”), they are thriving ahead of the 26 October midterm elections in a country long used to saving in the greenback.
“The best time to buy is now,” says one arbolito, declining to give her name. “[The dollar] went down a little but it is a fake-out – it’ll rise again.”
Like her, economists across the spectrum expect a devaluation of the Argentine peso once the voting is over. The president, Javier Milei, has placed a cap on the currency to tame triple-digit inflation and now it remains overvalued and reserves are depleted, leaving Argentina’s economy stagnant as consumers turn to cheap imports.
Luciano Galfione, a textile industrialist, says the 75-year-old family company he heads is living through “the worst moment in its history”. Since the chainsaw-wielding Milei took office, Galfione has laid off almost 50 workers and suspended 45 more at his Buenos Aires mill as consumption has slumped.
