Milei denies a recession and says indicators are "throwing out anything"

Argentine President Javier Milei dismissed the notion of Argentina being in a recession, dismissing statistics showing rising poverty and declining economic activity. In a Sunday interview with journalist Luis Majul on La Cornisa, Milei declared, "The indicators are throwing out anything," asserting there is no recession, but rather a slowdown in expansion.

He pointed out that a recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction, and criticized the use of seasonally adjusted series, which, he claimed, "measure badly" amid "major structural changes." Milei highlighted record levels of private consumption, exports, and output, stating that his administration has created over 500,000 jobs and that Argentina will experience four consecutive years of growth.

He maintained his economic program, ruling out any changes. The data that sparked his comments was released last week by the National Institute of Statistics and Census. Despite the escalated figures, Milei dismissed the latest poverty rate of 32.3% and unemployment at 7.9% as "old snapshots" not reflective of the present situation.

He attributed the rise in unemployment to the reallocation of resources and increased job seekers. Markets, however, reacted negatively, with country risk for Argentina increasing to its highest level of the year, above 640 basis points. Milei linked Argentina's economic challenges to opposition initiatives in Congress and security concerns, alleging "40 attempts to bring down the fiscal balance" and "seven attempts at impeachment," which he termed "seven coup attempts."

He also claimed that Argentina had deported 10,000 "terrorists" in 2025 and another 20,000 so far in 2026, figures not supported by official statistics. Deputy Maximiliano Ferraro of the Civic Coalition requested details on the deported individuals, with Máximo Kirchner calling the figure a "terrible exaggeration."