Argentina recorded a budget surplus in 2025 for the second year in a row, the government said Friday.
It credited the news to the "zero deficit" policy implemented by President Javier Milei upon taking office in December 2023.
Argentina's primary surplus – which excludes interest payments on debt – stood at 1.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year, while the overall fiscal surplus reached 0.2 percent of GDP, Economy Minister Luis Caputo said in a post on the X social network.
Caputo said primary government spending in 2025 was 27 percent lower in real terms compared to 2023.
"This reduction was achieved while protecting spending on direct social programmes aimed at the most vulnerable sectors," the minister wrote.
Social spending on state child support and food aid grew by 43 percent in real terms from December 2023 to December 2025, he added.
Prior to Milei's entry to office, the country had not managed to string together two consecutive years of positive balances in its public accounts since 2008.
Nevertheless, last year's result represents a slight setback compared to 2024, when Argentina's primary surplus reached 1.8 percent and the fiscal surplus 0.3 percent.
"The fiscal anchor [zero deficit] is and will be a state policy," Milei said in a post on his X account, reacting to the news.
The outcome was underpinned by a sharp cut in public spending, which included reductions in subsidies and frozen budgets in areas such as education, health, scientific research and public works.
Caputo said the 2025 surplus was achieved even with cuts in taxes and export duties.
"Sound public finances and economic growth will make it possible to continue returning resources to the private sector in the form of tax cuts, which since 2024 have already exceeded 2.5 percent of GDP," he wrote.
– TIMES/AFP
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