Structural Liberalization and Fiscal Consolidation Under Javier Milei

This paper examines Argentina’s fiscal consolidation under Javier Milei from December 2023 through May 2026. It analyzes how the administration attempted to restore fiscal credibility through expenditure restraint, subsidy reduction, public–sector retrenchment, federal-provincial realignment, tax reorganization, debt restructuring, IMF-supported financing, and privatization initiatives. Structural liberalization is considered insofar as it supported fiscal adjustment by affecting relative-price correction, formalization incentives, investment conditions, and the private sector’s capacity to absorb resources released from the state. Drawing on official fiscal and labor-market statistics, legal and policy documents, reform decrees, government communications, contemporaneous reporting, and secondary economic analysis, the paper evaluates the mechanisms, sequencing, and constraints of Argentina’s post-crisis fiscal adjustment. The findings suggest a fiscally coherent but politically fragile reform process marked by a rapid primary-balance turnaround, significant state retrenchment, and continued dependence on debt restructuring and external financing conditions. The evidence remains institutionally suggestive rather than causal due to the short observation period, recessionary adjustment costs, social strain, and the simultaneous implementation of fiscal, monetary, regulatory, and political reforms.