President Javier Milei asked Argentina’s business elite for the one thing that is becoming scarcer by the week: patience. 

“The first thing you need is patience. Growth processes are not linear,” he said on Wednesday, at a moment when economic indicators are testing the confidence of even his most enthusiastic supporters.

Milei spoke in an interview via Zoom from Paris, where he is attending Argentina Week, with José del Río, content director at La Nación newspaper. The conversation closed the first day of the IDEA Colloquium in Mar del Plata.

Organized by the Institute for Business Development of Argentina (IDEA), the colloquium is one of the most closely watched events on the country’s business calendar. Every year, it brings together executives from Argentina’s largest companies, politicians and economists in the coastal city. 

Top officials usually attend, and their remarks are read as a gauge of the government’s relationship with the private sector.

This year, the mood was shaped by the numbers. Economic activity fell 2.9% month-on-month in July, and J.P. Morgan now expects a contraction in the third........

© Buenos Aires Herald