Argentine President Mauricio Macri said his government will implement reforms on education, labor and taxes, after an announced hike in gas prices, days after his party made gains in the legislative elections.
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“We need to make many reforms,” Macri said. “We've done some already, but looking ahead, there's still a lot to be done.”
The right-wing president has pushed for free-market reforms, which include thousands of layoffs of state workers, the removal of taxes aimed at protecting local industry, and hikes in utility rates.
Just this week, oil companies increased the price of gas at the pump by up to 12 percent.
Minister of Energy Juan Jose Aranguren announced on Sept. 25, that the hike in naphtha and diesel oil would be effective starting Oct. 1. Still, the agreement wasn't finalized until the recent elections passed.
This puts Argentina in second place behind Uruguay for the most expensive gasoline in Latin America. This is the third gas hike in 2017, and in some cases reaches 29.5 percent, almost 12 points higher than the country's inflation.
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In the recent elections, Macri's Cambiemos coalition won about 40 percent of the vote while the Front for Victory coalition led by former president Cristina Fernandez came in second with over 30 percent of the national vote.
Fernandez's coalition campaigned on fighting "the reinstatement of the neo-liberal model" under Macri, but his coalition won in 13 of the 23 provinces and will have the biggest bloc in congress, allowing the president to push forward with his reforms.
“For Macri, the challenge is 100 percent the economy and the social situations, where the government has few achievements and must now face structural reforms,” analyst Patricio Giusto said.