“Public media has been reduced to the government’s propaganda department.
“We will privatize all public enterprises as much as possible.”
Energy company stock prices mentioned by Millay
New York stock market surges 43% during the day
Argentina’s President-elect Javier Millais (53, photo), who succeeded in changing the government by defeating the left-wing ruling party amid severe economic difficulties, announced on the 20th, “I will privatize all state-owned and public enterprises that can be transferred to the private sector.” The day after he was elected, he began a race to speed up the implementation of the ‘minimum government’ he had pledged. Public media and state-run energy companies were even named as targets for privatization.
In an interview with local radio station ‘Mitre’ on this day, President-elect Millais said of the public broadcaster TV Publica, Radio Nacional, and news agency Telam, “TV Publica has become a mechanism for (the regime’s) propaganda,” and “(the regime’s) covert propaganda.” “We will not stick to the practice of having a propaganda department,” he said. “The same goes for Radio Nacional,” he added, “and of course Telam News Agency.” He directly mentioned the media subject to privatization and expressed his will to sell.
Earlier, on the 15th, during the election process, when the Liberty Forward Party, to which President-elect Millay belongs, mentioned the privatization of public media, the public broadcasting union protested, saying, “It is contempt for the freedom of the press and workers.”
President-elect Millais also expressed his intention to push for the privatization of the state-owned oil company YPF and the state-run energy company Ennar. Established in 1907, YPF is a public enterprise in charge of most of Argentina’s fuel sector, including oil, electricity, and natural gas, and employs 100,000 people. It was sold to a Spanish company in 1999 due to the economic downturn, but was repurchased by the Argentine government in 2012. President-elect Millay said, “After the nationalization of YPF, performance has deteriorated and corporate value is gradually falling,” and “(the governance structure) needs to be improved.” After these remarks were made public, YPF’s stock price on the New York Stock Exchange soared more than 43% at one point during the day. According to Bloomberg News, this is the highest since trading began in 1993.
Millay, a former economist with an extreme liberal tendency, was elected with the concept of ‘minimum government’ to resolve economic difficulties and government ills. The policy to reduce the number of government ministries from 18 to 8 and privatize state-run and public enterprises follows this policy.
In addition, President-elect Millay again announced his intention to abolish the central bank and use the dollar as legal currency. He said, “Empirical evidence shows that if we reduce the money supply now, it will take 18 to 24 months to eliminate (inflation),” and added, “Abolishing the central bank should come first, and after that, Argentines will be able to choose their currency.” CNN predicted, “No country the size of Argentina has ever handed over the reins of its monetary policy to the United States,” and added, “If it adopts the dollar, it will push Argentina into an unknown world.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.