Argentine Protests Escalate as Household Debt Hits 20-Year High Under Milei
Thousands protested in Buenos Aires over record household indebtedness, signaling growing political friction for President Javier Milei’s deregulation agenda and raising risks for private credit markets.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Buenos Aires on Thursday to demand government relief as household debt reaches its highest level in two decades. The protests directly targeted President Javier Milei’s austerity measures and the recent deregulation of interest rates.
Central Bank data reveals that more than 5.8 million Argentines, representing 12.5 percent of the population, are currently behind on loan payments. This delinquency rate marks an unprecedented high not seen since the country’s major 2001 economic crisis.
For investors and market professionals, this surge in arrears highlights the social limits of rapid economic deregulation. The unrest introduces political risk to Milei’s reform agenda, particularly as demonstrators explicitly target alternative lending platforms.
Protesters carried banners criticizing digital wallets like Mercado Pago that function as lenders. Demonstrators are demanding state intervention to restructure household debt and cap the exorbitant interest rates charged outside the formal banking system, where many turn due to a lack of traditional credit access.
The march was organized by Argentina’s primary trade union confederations, the CGT and CTA, alongside left-wing political groups. Participants occupied sections of Plaza de Mayo near the Economy Ministry, which was secured by heavy police barriers.
Mariano Almeyda, a 47-year-old lawyer at the rally, highlighted the mounting strain on independent workers. "I'm just another Argentine with debts," he said, noting that "day by day, it is becoming increasingly difficult to cope."
Almeyda argued that the government must abandon its current stance, stating it needs "to move away from the blinkered view it is taking and start looking more closely at the reality of what we are suffering." President Milei has firmly rejected such calls for state mediation.
Milei recently characterized debt as "a matter between private parties" in which the state should not intervene. Labor leaders counter that the current economic model leaves households with no alternative but to borrow.
The CGT stated on X that the march opposed a system "forcing Argentine families to take on debt to buy food, pay the rent and keep basic services running." Persistent delinquency could eventually force policymakers to reconsider their hands-off approach to the private credit sector.
