“From minute zero, the ruling party behaved as if it had a broad majority in both chambers. This was compounded by a level of parliamentary inexperience that no one with gray hair in Congress remembers,” said one of the Legislators.

Just yesterday, the president of the ruling legislative bloc, Oscar Zago, was confident that with the return of the project to internal committees, the general vote on the law was still on the table. He was unaware that this move would reset everything. The Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, was also unaware. As a result, the bill is lost and won’t be presented again, according to Libertad Avanza sources.

Today, the markets reacted with declines of up to 7% in the banking sector, led by Grupo Financiero Galicia, Banco Supervielle, and Banco Macro, among others. The general decline in the index is nearly 5%, indicating that over the last 3 sessions, the MERVAL index, the country’s most important, dropped by 9%.

However, it’s important to note that until January, the Argentine market thrived as one of the best-performing in recent months.

Stocks and bond prices had incredible performances from November to January under President Milei’s promised reforms, driven by anticipated sweeping changes and apparent popular backing. ETFs like Global X MSCI Argentina (ARGT) increased by 40%, while individual stocks like YPF, GGAL, and CEPU surged by 90%, 110%, and 77% respectively, among others.