Luxury Boom in Milei’s Argentina Masks Despair Among the Masses

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The housing market is thriving in Javier Milei’s Argentina. Cars are flying off the lots, and major airlines are adding Buenos Aires flights to meet surging travel demand. Yet restaurants are evermore empty, hotels are at best half-full and shop vacancies are increasing as the economic recovery starts to lose momentum, at least for the masses.

Two contrasting realities are emerging in Argentina three months before the midterm elections, in which voters’ perceptions of the economy stands to determine how successful Milei’s party will be in winning more support for his austerity and pro-market approach. Income inequality is nothing new in Argentina. But a strong currency is just as much a pillar of Milei’s early accomplishments — lower inflation and poverty — as it is a driver of the country’s uneven recovery led by the libertarian, who is opening up a protectionist economy not used to foreign competition.