Milei ties shutdown plan to central bank reform with criminal penalties
Milei announced the proposal during an interview on the Neura streaming platform, describing it as a mechanism that would require the executive branch to cease spending once funds from the approved budget are depleted. “Once the budget is exhausted, no more money can be spent and the state shuts down,” Milei said. He said the bill, which has not yet been submitted to Congress, would prevent the government from continuing to spend beyond available revenues.
The president linked the shutdown mechanism to a parallel reform of the Central Bank of Argentina’s charter that he said would explicitly prohibit the institution from financing the national treasury. Milei said violations would carry criminal penalties, citing existing provisions in the Criminal Code. “In fact, the Criminal Code defines fraud. Fraud and counterfeiting currency are criminal offenses. We can even use parts of the existing Criminal Code,” he said.
Milei later posted on X that his government was finalizing details of the central bank charter reform, the state shutdown framework, a new capital markets law and insurance market deregulation. He described the package as “foundations for the new golden era.”
The government has not released the text of the shutdown bill or explained how the mechanism would operate in practice. It also has not specified how essential public services — including health care, public safety, education and the judiciary — would be affected if the budget were exhausted before Congress approved new funding.