The President of the United States, Joe Biden has sent his congratulatory message to Argentine president-elect Javier Milei in a call on Wednesday, the White House confirmed, three days after the libertarian outsider’s resounding election victory in South America’s second biggest economy.
‘President Biden spoke with President-elect of Argentina Javier Milei to congratulate him and discuss the importance of continuing to build on our strong bilateral relationship,’ a White House statement which was sighted by Africa Today News, New York said.
It said a readout of the call will be released later.
Milei, who is a 53-year-old economist who has vowed to scrap multiple government departments and sometimes campaigned by waving a chainsaw from the stage, trounced Argentina’s long-dominant Peronist coalition on Sunday.
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Voters punished the government for decades of economic decline, with annual inflation currently at 143 percent.
Milei has vowed to ditch the peso for the US dollar and shut down the central bank — which he accused of rampant money printing to finance government overspending — in a bid to halt inflation.
During his campaign he said he would slash state spending and ditch about 10 government ministries, among other controversial proposals.
He later toned down some of his rhetoric, leaving uncertainty over his actual plans.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had congratulated Milei in a statement on Sunday, adding that the United States also applauded ‘the robust democratic process through which the Argentine public has spoken.’
Africa Today News, New York reports that Milei arrived on Tuesday morning at the presidential residence in the suburbs of Buenos Aires to meet outgoing Peronist leader Alberto Fernandez, to begin a transition that looks likely to be complex.
Local television showed the arrival of Milei, a libertarian who has pledged to privatize public firms, eliminate the central bank and dollarize the economy, at the presidential residence in Olivos. Fernandez failed to tame inflation heading towards 150%.