In Argentina Javier Milei faces an economic crisis

To an Americangdpgdpimf audience, may seem uncannily familiar. A political outsider with bouffant hair and a history of outrageous remarks promises to make the country “great again”, and is written off by the liberal elite before winning the presidential poll. Yet the election on November 19th of Javier Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist”, is not a repeat in the to power. Mr Milei faces a far trickier economic situation than any American president since the Depression. Many voted for him not because of his inflammatory rhetoric—but in spite of it, in an act of desperation.. Annual inflation is over 140% and is expected to reach 200% by early next year. That is up from 54% when Alberto Fernández, the outgoing Peronist president, took office in 2019. Four in ten Argentines live in poverty. Public debt is 90% of ; and the fiscal deficit, when measured properly to include central-bank money-printing, is about 10% of . Its dollar bonds trade at less than 33% of their par value. External sources of cash are tapped out: the country already owes the $44bn and its foreign-exchange reserves are about $10bn in the red on a net basis (after deducting central-bank swap lines and other liabilities).