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Argentina's Milei Devalues Peso by 54% in First Batch of Shock Measures
Argentina devalued the peso by 54%, overhauled its crawling peg and announced massive spending cuts to eliminate its primary fiscal deficit next year as the first steps in President Javier Milei’s shock-therapy program.
Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) — Argentina devalued the peso by 54%, overhauled its crawling peg and announced massive spending cuts to eliminate its primary fiscal deficit next year as the first steps in President Javier Milei’s shock-therapy program.
The newly inaugurated administration weakened the official exchange rate to 800 pesos per dollar, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said in a televised address after the close of local markets on Tuesday. It was 366.5 per dollar before the address. The central bank will henceforth target a monthly devaluation of 2%.
The moves were welcomed by the International Monetary Fund. The central bank is scheduled to announce new monetary measures on Wednesday.
"There is no more money,” Caputo said repeatedly in the recorded video, adding that Argentina needs to solve its “addiction” to fiscal deficits.
The government will slash spending equivalent to 2.9% of gross domestic product, in a radical fiscal adjustment, according to a senior economic official.
Cuts to energy subsidies will save the 0.5% of GDP, while reductions to transport subsidies will save 0.2%, according to the government’s estimates. The administration also expects reductions in social security and pensions to save an additional 0.4% of GDP. The government plans to end indexation of pension payments, the official said.
The finance ministry also expects tax revenue to grow by 2.2% next year.
Other measures announced including halving the number of ministries, cutting transfers to provinces and suspending public works. At the same time, Argentina will boost certain social welfare programs, Caputo said.
The IMF praised the new government’s “bold initial actions” shortly after Caputo’s announcement. “Their decisive implementation will help stabilize the economy and set the basis for more sustainable and private-sector led growth,” spokesperson Julie Kozack said in a statement.
戈爾巴喬夫改革給蘇聯造成的經濟損失到底有多大？
戈爾巴喬夫改革的初衷之一是增強蘇聯的經濟實力。實際上，戈爾巴喬夫改革非但沒有改善蘇聯經濟，還搞得內外債纏身，最終導致蘇聯解體。
結果一如既往
早在1980年代初期，蘇聯在科技上已經落後於西方經濟發達國家，大多數蘇聯國產商品在國際市場上缺乏競爭力，蘇聯領導層對此早已心知肚明。
戈爾巴喬夫認為，隻有激進的經濟改革才能挽救蘇聯當時所麵臨的困難局麵。
1986年初提出的加速社會經濟發展理念推出了一個非常宏偉的目標。
為實現這一目標，到1990年，蘇聯應該將糧食產量提高1.5 倍，到2000年，將工業產值翻一番，完全解決住房問題。
然而，單單是維持龐大的官僚機構，每年的花費就超過了400億盧布。
這些官僚機構對戈爾巴喬夫改革計劃毫無熱情，對其落實更是百般阻撓。
沒過多久，事實就很清楚了，戈爾巴喬夫改革不但會失敗，而且還會讓蘇聯的經濟社會發展雪上加霜。
到了1987年初，蘇聯工農業產值已經開始明顯下滑，到了1989年，蘇聯財政預算首次出現了赤字。
真正的崩潰則發生在1991年。
與1985年相比，當年經濟增長率從+2.3%下降到了-11%，黃金儲備從2500噸下降到240噸，外債餘額則從250億美元增加到了1039億美元。
全局性商品短缺
1987年，蘇聯取消了國家對外貿的壟斷，原本就沒有組織好的居民供應係統頓時失衡。
一夜之間，數百家蘇聯外貿企業不僅出口了蘇聯產品，而且還出口了很多原本為滿足蘇聯居民消費而進口的國外產品。
這種操弄對外貿易的做法讓某些人大賺了一筆。要知道，當時的物價補貼政策使得蘇聯的商品價格遠遠低於西方國家的商品價格。
大量商品轉口到國外在蘇聯造成了前所未有的商品短缺。
當時，蘇聯的普通老百姓連香腸、衛生紙、餐具和鞋子都很難買到了。1989年夏天，糖、茶、藥品、洗滌劑等基本生活必需品已經嚴重短缺，不久之後，煙草供應也陷入了嚴重危機。
生活必需品供應的惡化最終導致了頓巴斯、庫茲巴斯和卡拉幹達等地石油工人大罷工。列寧格勒、斯維爾德洛夫斯克、彼爾姆等大城市，已經對獲得商品優惠券失去希望的人開始自發組織集會。
蘇聯解體後的第一個除夕，期待已久人們等到的卻是一個新的“驚喜”，商店裏所有的貨架都空空如也，所有的商品要麽就是已經被那些頭腦靈活的居民搶購一空，要麽就是被一些有門路的人囤積居奇，等著下一輪“物價改革”能讓他們賺得盆滿缽滿。
