Argentina’s libertarian president Javier Milei made a high-stakes strategy change this week, scrapping a currency policy that has underpinned his battle against inflation but unnerved investors.
Milei has relied in part on Argentina’s long-standing strict currency controls to tame chronic price rises. The central bank has dramatically strengthened the peso in real terms, but burned through scarce dollar reserves to do so.
Most analysts had expected Milei to stick to that strategy until crucial midterm elections in October because the inflation slowdown is central to his campaign. For months, he had appeared to be shrugging off investor jitters about the policy and planning only minor tweaks.