From chainsaw to pay rise: Argentina’s ministers cash in despite Milei austerity drive

At the beginning of 2026, Argentina’s national government implemented a salary adjustment for senior officials in the Executive Branch, which resulted in their incomes doubling within a few months. The measure was formalised through Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) 931/2025, published on January 2 this year, and applied to the Cabinet chief, government ministers, secretaries and undersecretaries, explicitly excluding President Javier Milei and Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, whose pay remained frozen.

According to reports published in various media outlets, the increase was not applied as a single adjustment but rather progressively over the first months of the year. Up until December 2025, a minister received a gross salary of 3,584,006 pesos (around US$2,500 at the time). Thanks to the decree coming into force, that income nearly doubled in January to 7,129,501 pesos (around US$4,900 that month). In February, it was updated again to 7,272,091 pesos, while in April – the salary paid out in May – it reached 7,902,331 pesos. Projections for May indicate that salaries will rise to 8,020,866 pesos, consolidating an increase of more than 120 percent in just five months.

The mechanism also established that officials’ salaries would be tied to adjustments in the wider national public administration, explaining the successive increases seen following the initial jump in January. According to government officials cited in local media outlets, the decision responded to internal pressure caused by the loss of technical staff and officials moving to the private sector, due to the public-private sector pay gap. In this regard, the wage adjustment sought to partially align Cabinet ministerial salaries with market levels after a period of approximately two years of wage freezes.

Ministers are now receiving incomes close to eight million pesos per month, while secretaries exceed 7.3 million pesos and undersecretaries around 6.6 million pesos. The Cabinet chief’s salary was also placed on a par with ministers. 

The decision to hike Executive branch salaries sparked controversy due to the contrast with the austerity rhetoric that has characterised Milei’s time in politics. During his successful 2023 presidential election campaign, the then-candidate built his political identity around the idea of the “chainsaw” – a metaphor encapsulating his proposal for drastic cuts to public spending, a reduction in the size of the state and the elimination of privileges for the political class. 

This message was aimed directly at what he termed Argentina’s political “caste,” professional politicians whom he accused of living off state resources with high salaries and unjustified benefits.

Milei promised a significant reduction in the size of the state and has delivered, including cutting the number of ministries, eliminating structures deemed unnecessary and imposing a severe reduction in political spending. A central part of that narrative was the idea that officials should earn less and share in the effort that would be required of society as a whole. Austerity in political salaries was presented as a symbol of this shift in paradigm.

Once in government, this policy translated into a freeze on the salaries of the highest authorities – including those of the president and vice-president themselves – and a series of measures designed to shrink the state and reduce public expenditure. The decision to authorise huge salary hikes for ministers and senior officials in the first months of 2026 has cast doubt over that campaign promise and the practice of government.