Argentine President Javier Milei at a ceremony celebrating the 172nd anniversary of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange. Mariana Nedelcu / Reuters Argentine President Javier Milei presented this Thursday a package of reforms that includes a reorganization of the Central Bank (BCRA) to increase monetary discipline and an initiative to suspend non-essential State activities in the event of a prolonged deficit. In a TV address, Milei detailed his plan for the BCRA, which seeks to prohibit monetary financing from the State and provinces. The bill establishes that "the fundamental mission of the Central Bank is once again to preserve the value of the currency", highlighted the president. The change also seeks to make the mechanisms for removing authorities from the body more difficult, to "shield the president of the BCRA and the board of directors from political abuses", said Milei, who criticized previous governments and stated that "the Central Bank has been a tool that allowed the theft of high politics". The president also announced a project to implement a "shutdown", or government closure, in the event of a prolonged fiscal deficit, during which "non-essential activities of the State will be paralyzed, new spending will be frozen and no contracts will be awarded". During this period, neither legislators nor senior executives "will receive a single peso salary." The announcement generated an immediate response from the state's main workers' union (ATE), whose leader, Rodolfo Aguiar, highlighted that the closure "has already started" in practice, due to government policies. "Many essential services are no longer being guaranteed due to adjustments, cuts, emptying and mass layoffs", he published in X. The president also presented a project for the "deep liberalization" of the capital market and a "structural reform of the insurance market". All initiatives will have to be approved by Congress before coming into force, but Milei did not say when they will be submitted to the Legislature. The Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, said that the president explained the details of the reform to the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, and that the employee left that meeting "very satisfied". The Fund had already expressed its support for the reform project, which it considers essential to facilitate Argentina's return to financial markets and access to credit. For economist Daniel Marx, director of consultancy Quantum, the announcement of the reform "seeks to reduce the risk associated with the 2027 presidential elections, which often manifests itself in Argentina in strong financial movements."