Javier Milei’s election victory has sparked a rise in the share price of YPF, Argentina’s state-owned oil company. The stock jumped by 40% on Monday after Milei defeated Economy Minister Sergio Massa, with YPF reaching a price of $14.90 before 2:00 p.m. EST.
Milei’s economic revamp plans for the country include privatizing YPF and using the US dollar to revive the Argentine economy. He also mentioned his intention to sell off state-run companies and increase their saleability to benefit the people of Argentina. The government had nationalized 51% of YPF over ten years ago, but now manages substantial shale gas and oil reserves.
In addition to YPF, other Argentina-linked equities such as Grupo Financiero Galicia and Banco Macro also gained over 20% in value on Monday. The Global X MSCI Argentina ETF saw gains as well, going over 11.6% soon after midday in New York.
Milei described his election win as the defeat of a decadent model, asserting that there is no turning back. To manage Argentina’s historic inflation, a plan is set to deprioritize the peso over the dollar, which is expected to impact the exchange rate between the peso and the dollar.