Argentine President Javier Milei said on Thursday evening that he will present a bill to Congress to punish with jail time any Central Bank official that issues money to the National Treasury to finance fiscal deficits.
Milei, in an interview with the news channel Todo Noticias, said that the intention is to define the practice of printing money — known as seigniorage — as a criminal offense.
“The bill will define seigniorage as a criminal offense and in case the Central Bank finances the treasury, either directly or indirectly, the president of the Central Bank, the board of directors, the president of the Nation and the officials who vote for it would end up in jail,” Milei said.
The objective, Milei said, is “not to be able to issue money to finance the Treasury,” pointing out the previous administration of former socialist President Alberto Fernández that, during his disastrous four-year presidency, printed the equivalent of 18 percent of Argentina’s GDP in pesos.