Investments, remonetisation, reforms – the doubts of US business leaders

Companies of the United States operating in Argentina are convinced that the opportunity which might be provided by President Javier Milei’s government to improve their business opportunities in this country is “unique” and “not to be repeated.” But doubts remain.

The requirements are growing on a par with optimism, an atmosphere that was present at the AmCham Summit 2025. The crowd was mindful of last week’s City electoral result, but there remains uncertainty over the incentives the government might engineer for the use of the dollars “under the mattress.” 

With investments in suspense until the elections are over, the establishment linked to the United States is calling for business to be more competitive and for the government to resume its reform agenda to consolidate the libertarian model.

The horizon for investments starts next year, with 2025 absorbed by the electoral calendar and private-sector expectations making the ballot-box the condition for evaluating whether to sink in dollars. The incentives in Milei’s  RIGI investment incentive scheme are not paying off even for mining, one of the sectors betting most heavily on the package of fiscal benefits which also requires very generous remittances.

At the Buenos Aires Convention Centre this week, two reasons were found: the scant short-term benefits and the time lost to politics, which has dissuaded many companies who ended up choosing other destinations. 

One corporative source with US links, in conversation with Perfil, listed the examples of Chevron, TotalEnergies and Petronas, three energy firms who have thought better of their investments or left the country in recent years with excuses linked to the local framework of norms.

Energy is a sector considered strategic with export potential. “Can you believe that in Angola there is more legal security than in Argentina?” said the business source, referring to Petronas, the Malaysian giant.

Another demand made on the government by US companies with local operations is the need for improved infrastructure as part of Argentina’s road to becoming competitive, the focus of the summit. Roads in bad shape (or those yet to be built) are the main obstacle.

“There is no system of concessions permitting companies to recover their investment. The government just tells the private companies that they have to do all the work,” considered the same corporate voice.

The “sub-blanqueo” quasi-whitewash plan to remonetise the economy with the dollars of Argentines from “under the mattress” monopolised conversations among CEOs present. Milei’s statements on his indifference to the possibility of drug-tainted money entering caused a stir, as did his description of tax evaders as “heroes.”

“We have to think that there are also legal risks for those who whitewash undeclared funds, there has to be an appropriate legal structure, that’s important," noted Facundo Gómez Minujín, AmCham President and Senior Country Officer of JP Morgan for Argentina. “That message does not seem the message of a country seeking to become institutional.”

The consensus is that there should be “rationality” in the “control” placed on the use of dollars. “It’s not the same thing for an accountant to buy a car for US$10,000 as for somebody to go abroad several times a year on dubious missions,” said an important director for a US bank in Latin America.

Consulted on the celerity with which the government has gone looking for a new source of foreign currency after having nailed a lush agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the source said: “It looks desperate but it’s also a way of ratifying that they are not going to print a single new peso as a sign that they want to keep inflation at bay at all costs.” 

The general belief is that the measure which the libertarian administration is keeping in suspense aims at sums which will have as their minimum the purchase of a car for US$10,000. 

“It’s delirious to think that somebody is going to buy beer with hard currency,” volunteered one businessman involved with mass consumption items. 

While Milei and Economy Minister Luis Caputo were closing orators at the event, neither of them gave much in the way of a definition of the measures.

The political support is intact. The victory of Milei’s presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, in Buenos Aires City enthused businessmen that the government might be encouraged to resume the agenda of labour, pension and tax reforms, which the private sector is awaiting to improve their business operations. 

One corporate voice highlighted one aspect of the electoral year: “What happens in Buenos Aires Province is more important than [the national midterms in] October. The minorities in Congress will stay more or less the same.”

The event closed with appearances by Caputo and then Milei’s presidential speech, abbreviated by an “inescapable commitment” of his agenda – at 8pm he had to be on La Nación + television channel for an interview with Luis Majul.

"Those who bet on Argentina will win," he assured an auditorium, which at the end of his speech fell into an uncomfortable silence after his habitual “¡Viva la libertad, carajo!” There was no callback, but finally, a farewell applause picked up.