Milei’s Success in Argentina Isn’t Threatened by $7 Big Macs
Argentina's surprisingly strong peso doesn't mean it's overvalued, only that Javier Milei's reforms seem to be working.
And so does Milei.
Photographer: Marc Atkins/Getty Images EuropeOrder a Big Mac in Buenos Aires and you’ll have to pay about $7 — among the world’s most expensive price-tags for the popular burger1.
It’s a consequence of Javier Milei’s “shock therapy” plan, which in his first year as Argentina’s president led to a sharp slowdown in inflation and a quick appreciation of the real exchange rate (that is, adjusted by price gains.) Thanks to a draconian fiscal adjustment, slow crawling peg of the currency and a tight monetary policy that put a lid on peso printing, the monthly inflation rate dropped to 2.4% in November from 25.5% in December 2023, when Milei took office. Remarkable.