Episode summary
Inside The Two Argentinas Under Javier Milei
Wall Street Week
· · 12 min
Summary
Argentina under Javier Milei is being pulled into two different economies. In Patagonia’s Vaca Muerta region, energy investment, construction and worker inflows are booming as deregulation, spending cuts and a more open investment regime help lift output and exports. One business leader says Vaca Muerta is near a record one million barrels per day, and the sector could generate a $30 billion surplus by the end of the decade.
But the gains are not spreading evenly. In Buenos Aires, small shops, manufacturers, retailers and construction-linked businesses are dealing with weaker foot traffic, factory closures, higher utility bills and rising household debt. The transcript says Argentina’s formal private sector has lost more than 250,000 salaried jobs since Milei took office, and one consultant argues the country now has a fast-growing capital-intensive economy alongside a recessionary labor-intensive one.
With the election one year away, the central question is political as much as economic: whether Milei can turn inflation relief into broad-based gains in jobs and living standards before frustration hardens into a backlash.
Key takeaways
- The host argues Argentina now has “two Argentinas”: a booming energy-and-export economy and a struggling domestic-services economy.
- A consultant says the peso is about 20% to 25% overvalued, which helps anchor inflation but hurts competitiveness and jobs.
- The transcript says Argentina’s formal private sector has lost more than 250,000 salaried jobs since Milei took office.
- Tecpetrol’s Ricardo Markous says Vaca Muerta is close to one million barrels per day and could generate more than $10 billion in surplus this year.
- Markous also warns Vaca Muerta will not create all the jobs Argentina needs, even if its export contribution keeps rising.
Notable quotes
“one economy that's doing very well continues to grow at double digit speed. And then the other economy is moving in the opposite direction, it's in a recession”
“-The peso, as you know, is a little bit over-evaluated regarding vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar, maybe 20%, 25% at the moment”
“Since President Milei took office, Argentina's formal private sector has lost more than 250,000 salaried jobs”
“Today is going to be more than $10 billion of surplus. And we are projecting this can go to $30 billion by the end of the decade”
“I voted for Milei, but today, honestly, I don't know who to vote for”
How the episode opens
Westin: This is a story about haves and have nots. When Argentine President Javier Milei took office nearly 3 years ago he promised to shrink the government and to help business through deregulation. But one of the effects of his policies has been to create what some are calling two Argentinas, one benefiting from new investment and growth, and another struggling to keep up.
With the country's presidential election one year away, Bloomberg's Simon Hampton brings us a story of that divide through the eyes of the people living on either side of it. -In the windswept oilfields of Patagonia the scale of Argentina's energy boom is hard to miss. Trucks crowd the roads, flames burn above the fields, and new buildings spring from the once barren landscape as workers pour in from across the country.
- The truth is I came from Buenos Aires at zero, I mean, financially at zero. -We met Diego Esquivel on a rainy day in Añelo, in Argentina's Vaca Muerta region. More than 600 miles from Buenos Aires, where he'd been working in health insurance and first heard about the opportunities taking shape in the rural township.
- I didn't know what it was about until I started researching on YouTube, searching on the internet, and maybe a bit more, and I saw that many people were coming to look for job opportunities, and that they were doing well. It was something that was growing and growing constantly. -Soon the opportunity became his.
A job managing housing for oil workers with triple the wages he earned back in Buenos Aires. Can you compare your financial situation in Buenos Aires to what it is in Añelo? - This allows me to help my children, save up cash, save money for future projects, you know which in Buenos Aires I couldn't practically couldn't do.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- argentina recovery
- inflation decline
- investment inflows
- energy exports boom
- election ahead
Watch the episode
Watch “Inside The Two Argentinas Under Javier Milei” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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