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Cryptic billboards have been popping up across Ghana over the past month, depicting a mysterious ‘man in a mask’ with various messages hinting at a 2024 presidential bid, like “A New Ghana” and “Embrace the Change.“ According to local media, the anonymous group plans to reveal its identity soon, but most suspect it’s a Ghanaian businessman popularly known as Cheddar. |
TOP STORY | ||
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Maverick Milei takes the reins in Argentina | ||
Maverick libertarian economist Javier Milei was sworn in as Argentina's president yesterday (Sunday), on the 40th anniversary of his country’s return to democracy. | ||
Inheriting an economic mess (such as empty coffers and $100B in debt), his 35-minute inaugural address contained few surprises compared to his famously unorthodox campaign. Milei said: | ||
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The president didn't offer specifics, though flagged spending cuts equivalent to 5% of GDP, and ended the address with his trademark slogan of "long live freedom, damnit!". The gathered crowd came straight back with a "¡Viva!” | ||
In parallel, Milei had already named some notably mainstream figures to his cabinet, including the highly regarded Luis Caputo as finance minister. | ||
How highly regarded? | ||
When Caputo restored the country’s access to international credit back in 2016, the then president declared him “the Messi of finance”. And honestly, we can’t think of a higher compliment in a country so mad about Messi (the soccer star). | ||
These kinds of mainstream appointments, plus other pirouettes to the centre, partly reflect Milei’s political reality: he only controls 10-15% of Argentina’s legislature, so he'll need to do deals with the opposition to get much done. | ||
And we won’t have to wait long to see how this all pans out: he’s already signed a cost-cutting decree to halve the number of government ministries, and Milei’s team says he’ll unveil further sweeping reforms (like deregulation) this week. | ||
All the while, business leaders are cheering him on, while unions and social organisations are planning protests. Viva, indeed. |