March 3, 2026
governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof
The governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, said Monday that since Javier Milei came to power, “one registered job is lost every four minutes,” and he stated that 299,600 formal employees have already lost their jobs.
During the opening of the 154th regular session of the Buenos Aires Legislature, the provincial leader gave a harsh assessment of the economic situation and argued that “the macroeconomy is bad and the micro economy is worse.”
In this context, he renewed his criticism of the national government and raised the need to “change the course” of the country, while calling on the leadership to build “a productive, federal, and deeply national alternative” for 2027. “There is another way,” he emphasized.
The speech began at 6:30 p.m. and lasted for almost an hour and a half. Accompanied by the head of the Buenos Aires Chamber of Deputies, Alejandro Dichiara, and Deputy Governor Verónica Magario, Kicillof spoke before provincial and national legislators, union representatives from the General Confederation of Labor and the two CTAs, university rectors, members of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, judges from the Buenos Aires Supreme Court, and members of his cabinet.
At another point in his speech, he recalled that this year marks five decades since the last military coup and vindicated the struggle for human rights. While clarifying that the country is not under a dictatorship, he argued that Argentina “has become a laboratory for an extreme right wing that governs by exalting hatred and insults as a political method.” He also stated that the national administration acts “with repression, violence, and threats.”
On the economic front, the governor detailed a decline in consumption in various sectors. He indicated that retail and supermarket sales are ten points below previous levels, while wholesale sales have fallen by 20 percent. According to him, basic products such as milk, meat, fruit, vegetables, and yerba mate are experiencing historically low demand.
He also warned about the growing indebtedness of households. He noted that delinquency has tripled in the last year and specified that 9.3 percent of total loans are in default, a figure that rises to 12 percent for personal loans and 24.6 percent for financing outside the banking system.
In addition, he noted that the proportion of income allocated to loan payments rose from 7 percent to 18 percent.
Kicillof described a widespread decline in productive activity: industry fell 10 percent, construction 26 percent, and commerce 6 percent. He also noted that during the last summer season, “one million fewer tourists traveled” to destinations in Buenos Aires and that consumption was 35 percent lower than the previous year.
In this context, he warned of massive business closures and said that since the beginning of the current national administration, about 30 companies a day have shut their doors. According to his figures, there are already 21,938 closures nationwide, of which 5,832 are in the province of Buenos Aires. He mentioned cases of companies that have ceased operations or laid off staff and stated that many of those that continue to operate are doing so at half their installed capacity.
The governor defended the role of the state as a tool for reducing inequalities, boosting employment, and promoting development. He argued that the market alone does not build infrastructure or guarantee jobs and stated that the idea of “the invisible hand of the market does not exist, it is a myth.”
Source: Telesur