The structural achievements of President Milei and the challenges of turning them into state policy

Amid a complex global context and after years of economic instability, significant achievements under the administration of President Javier Milei have occurred across a variety of sectors in Argentina, including fiscal policy, energy production, and technology. Some of these milestones, such as ending hyperinflation and attracting transformative levels of foreign investment, are unprecedented. However, it remains to be seen how the Milei administration will transform this progress into durable state policy.

In this alert, we discuss various developments in Argentina overseen by President Milei and what may be ahead.

Taming inflation and restoring fiscal discipline

The first – and perhaps most decisive – achievement has been avoiding hyperinflation. Within months, monthly inflation fell from nearly 20 percent to around 2 percent, an unprecedented deceleration not seen in decades. Importantly, this was achieved without confiscating deposits or defaulting the external indebtedness, as done on prior occasions. This marks the first credible step toward ending Argentina’s chronic inflationary problem, which has averaged around 50 percent annually since 1810.

This stabilization was supported in part by anchoring the peso to the US dollar, which helped to stabilize expectations, but also limited the accumulation of foreign reserves to prevent external shocks and, more importantly, pay foreign debt in January 2026.

In 2024, the government covered this constraint through a tax moratorium; in 2025, through financing from the International Monetary Fund; and by late 2025 and 2026, it expects additional financial support from the United States, including a USD20 billion swap, plus an additional USD20 billion financing package that can include purchase of Argentine bonds, credit lines for the payment of dollar-denominated debt, and the purchase of pesos in the Argentine market (the US Treasury intervened in the Argentine foreign exchange market twice over the last two weeks, conducting a carry trade that could result in a decent profit). These are exceptional measures that are not sustainable in the long run, but they helped avoid a macroeconomic collapse and created more time to restore order.

A second key milestone has been achieving an uninterrupted fiscal surplus since he took office almost two years ago. This result has been partially driven by cuts in pension expenditures and a sharp reduction in public infrastructure investment, but also by a more disciplined and efficient management of the state, including deregulation and the removal of many rent-seeking mechanisms that long fostered corruption and inefficiency. More importantly perhaps, the Argentine population in general and most political leaders now agree that Argentina needs to avoid future fiscal deficits at all costs.

Strategic investments reshaping Argentina’s productive landscape

In parallel, Argentina is beginning to attract private investments of historic scale in strategic sectors with the potential to reshape its economic structure. Key developments in sectors such as energy, mining, and technology include the following:

1. Energy: Argentina LNG (YPF–Eni)

In October 2025, YPF and Eni signed a landmark agreement, both parties having made their final technical investment decision, to develop a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which will transform gas from Vaca Muerta into LNG for export. The project entails the following investments:

• Infrastructure investment: USD25–30 billion


• Upstream and production investment: USD15 billion


• Total investment through 2050: USD85 billion


• Expected exports: USD300 billion between 2031 and 2050


• Estimated job creation: 50,000 direct and indirect positions

This represents a profound shift in how YPF operates: from a politically managed company to one run with a professional, long-term business strategy. Other privately owned oil and gas companies are also announcing and planning massive investments in Vaca Muerta, one of the world’s largest and most profitable unconventional oil and gas reservoirs in the world.

2. Mining: Vicuña Project (San Juan)

At the same time, the Vicuña project, a joint venture between BHP and Lundin Mining, announced an investment of USD15–17 billion to develop one of the largest integrated copper, gold, and silver mining projects in Argentina’s history. It was considered the largest single private foreign investment ever announced in the country, until the YPF announcement described above.

Although Argentina’s mining sector still represents a fraction of Chile’s (with whom Argentina shares its main mineral source, ie, the Andes mountain range), projects of this scale, plus five other large cooper developments already announced, can structurally strengthen the country’s trade balance and fiscal accounts over the coming decade with mineral exports matching those of Chile, making Argentina one of the largest cooper exporters in the world.

3. Artificial intelligence: OpenAI (Patagonia)

In technology, OpenAI has announced a massive USD25 billion investment for the development of its Stargate Project in Argentina, a massive data center hub servicing artificial intelligence (AI) operations in Patagonia, to be powered mostly by renewable energy. Argentina has been a regional leader in creating unicorns in the high-tech space, outsourcing services to companies worldwide. This massive investment will boost Argentina’s capabilities in this critical sector.

A strategic international realignment

Argentina is forging a strategic alliance with the United States, who has expressed clear support for the government’s reform agenda.

This geopolitical alignment carries historical weight. Although Argentina joined the G20 two decades ago, since the second half of the 20th century, Argentina has remained largely outside the Western economic and security architecture that emerged after World War II – unlike Brazil, which actively joined the Allied effort. Today, this window of reintegration is reopening.

Sustainability and the road ahead

It remains to be seen whether Argentina’s emergency stabilization will translate into a sustainable growth model, driven by private investment, productivity gains, and social cohesion.

Argentina is facing a mid-term election on October 26, in which the current administration will most likely double its congressional representation, according to some political analysts, by obtaining around 30–35 percent of the votes countrywide. Even if it obtains a larger or smaller result, the president will need to secure a broad political consensus, ensuring these milestones endure beyond any single administration.

Conclusion

Argentina stands at a crossroads. Fiscal stabilization, historic investments in energy and mining, and a renewed international partnership with the United States mark the most significant strategic shift in decades.

Whether this development continues will depend on the government’s ability to consolidate this progress in the form of state policy.

For more information, please contact the author.