After 100 brutal days, Javier Milei has markets believing

“We are genuinely very satisfied,” declared President Javier Milei of Argentina on local radio, after inflation in February fell by more than expected, to 13%. That, however, is the monthly figure. Over the past year it has amounted to 276%—the highest in the world. Inflation of just 8% annually has rattled politics in richer countries. That Mr Milei had cause to celebrate 13% monthly inflation shows the scale of the economic mess he inherited, and how much he has left to do to fix it.

Mr Milei, an irascible outsider and a self-described “anarcho-capitalist”, campaigned while brandishing a chainsaw and promising to slash spending. On December 10th he took over a bloated state running vast budget deficits financed by printing money. Inflation was rampant, the peso’s value in the drain. The government owed $263bn to foreign creditors, including $43bn to the IMF, but had no dollars at all. Like many Argentine governments, the previous one spent far beyond its means trying to buy popularity, while inventing increasingly absurd temporary macroeconomic fixes (such as heavy price controls) to keep the economy wobbling along.