Argentina’s economy minister, Sergio Massa, has produced a surprise by finishing first in the opening round of the country’s presidential election, putting him on course for a run-off against the chainsaw-wielding populist Javier Milei.
The expectation was that Mr Massa would be punished for presiding over an economic crisis, with inflation in Argentina nearing 140 per cent. Mr Milei, an economist, self-described anarcho-capitalist and rock fan, was until recently a relative unknown. He has proposed scrapping the central bank and replacing the Argentine peso with the US dollar, to appeal to voters looking for a radical approach to reverse Argentina’s economic problems.
