Milei asks Massa to delay Budget introduction until after election

National lawmakers Javier Milei and Victoria Villaruel, running for president and vice-president for the La Libertad Avanza party in the upcoming elections, have submitted a formal request to Economy Minister Sergio Massa, asking him to delay the introduction of the 2024 Budget bill until after the vote takes place.

Milei, who stormed to victory in the August 13 PASO primaries and is now the frontrunner to win the Casa Rosada in the October 22 vote, asked the ruling coalition presidential candidate to instead seek a budget proposal "by consensus" with who win the election.

Article 26 of Law 24,156 states that future budget bills must be introduced by September 15 of the previous year. Any proposal must include text containing its objectives and explanations of the methodology used to estimate resources and seek authorisations for expenditure.

With annual projections, the budget should detail forecasts for multiple years and be contain details of tri-annual predictions for macroeconomic variables, national tax and non-tax collection, current and capital expenses and the servicing of public debt.

Libertarian duo Milei and Villarruel, who say they would slash public spending and seek to dollarise the economy if elected, said in a note to Massa that "the Budget bill relevantly and crucially outlines and conditions the monetary, foreign exchange and financial policies of the public sector during the three-year period following its enactment."

That is why they “respectfully request the president of the Chamber of Deputies to assess the possibility of temporarily exempting the Executive Branch from its obligation to introduce the Budget bill until the election” of October 22 “has been completed, taking into account the competitive electoral performance our bloc has shown in the last election."

After that, “the Executive Branch may submit it to the Chamber of Deputies in consensus with the most voted political force on October 22 for its analysis, discussion and ultimate enactment,” the document concluded.

– TIMES/PERFIL