ARGENTINA’S far-right president, Javier Milei, has vowed to “press on” with austerity in his proposed budget for 2025. 

In an unprecedented move, Mr Milei personally pitched the budget to Congress instead of his economy minister, slamming Argentina’s history of “macroeconomic mismanagement” and promising to veto anything that compromised his commitment to austerity.

The president’s budget proposal followed a week of political clashes in the legislature over planned spending increases that the president’s administration warns would derail its International Monetary Fund (IMF) supported “zero-deficit” budget.

Opposition parties have sought to pass laws to raise salaries and pensions with inflation to help hard-hit Argentinians cope with brutal austerity.

Mr Milei controls less than 15 per cent of the seats in the legislature, so it will fall to the opposition to approve the final budget.

The president told lawmakers: “The cornerstone of this budget is the first truth of macroeconomics, a truth that for many years has been neglected in Argentina: that of zero deficit.”

Mr Milei vowed that nothing would stop him from pressing on with austerity.

Since coming to power nine months ago, Mr Milei has implemented an austerity package that has caused deep economic pain.

Nearly 60 per cent of Argentinians now live in poverty — up from 44 per cent in December — according to the Catholic University. 

Mr Milei has removed energy and transport subsidies and cut wages and the value of pensions in real terms, despite inflation.

The fight over pensions reached a head last week, when Mr Milei and his allies defeated a Bill that would have boosted social security spending in Argentina, compromising the administration’s “fiscal discipline.”