Argentine President Javier Milei announced on Thursday a sweeping reform of the country's central bank charter and signed an emergency decree allowing the expulsion of foreigners who direct hate speech against Argentina, in a dual move that reflects both his economic agenda and the nationalist mood following Argentina's defeat in the World Cup final.

In a nationally broadcast address, Milei presented legislation to overhaul the Organic Charter of the Banco Central de la República Argentina, the institution's founding statute. The centrepiece of the bill is an outright ban on the central bank financing the state, whether directly or indirectly. It would eliminate temporary advances to the Treasury, restrict the bank from purchasing government securities on the primary market, and scrap non-transferable notes — a mechanism through which the Treasury previously obtained foreign currency from reserves in exchange for illiquid securities. The bill would also reverse a 2012 reform enacted under former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, which broadened the bank's mandate to include employment, financial stability and economic development with social equity — objectives Milei called "an aberration of five goals for a single instrument." Under his proposal, the bank's sole mission would revert to preserving the value of the currency. To insulate the institution's leadership from political pressure, the bill would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers of Congress to remove the bank's president or board members. The reform was drafted alongside Economy Minister Luis Caputo, central bank President Santiago Bausili, and Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger, who previously led the bank between 2015 and 2018. The package is expected to include a permanent zero-deficit fiscal rule, with government shutdowns triggered if deficits persist over several months. The shift marks a notable evolution: as a candidate, Milei famously called for abolishing the central bank entirely, wielding a prop chainsaw at campaign rallies. Now in office, he has opted for institutional reform rather than abolition, framing the initiative as ending what he called "91 years of fraud" dating to the bank's founding in 1935.

Also on Thursday, the government published Decree 681/2026 in the Official Gazette, amending Argentina's Migration Law to allow authorities to bar entry, cancel residence permits and expel foreigners who incite hatred, discrimination or violence based on nationality, or who desecrate national symbols. The measure explicitly carves out protection for ideological dissent and legitimate political, academic or civic criticism. The government linked the decree to a wave of anti-Argentine sentiment on social media that followed the World Cup, co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, in which Argentina lost the final to Spain. Milei has claimed, without providing evidence, that the Brazilian government funded 25 percent of what he described as an organised campaign against Argentina — an allegation denied by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and which Brazilian authorities have also rejected. Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno cited posts by Spanish singer Rosalía and actors Samuel L. Jackson and Javier Bardem as examples of the phenomenon.

The decree drew immediate legal and political criticism. Constitutional scholar Félix Lonigro argued that restrictions on free expression must be established by Congress, not executive decree. Critics also questioned the vagueness of terms such as "hate speech" and warned of arbitrary enforcement. Former national migration director Florencia Carignano wrote that if other countries applied equivalent criteria, Milei himself — who recently insulted the Brazilian president and a Supreme Court justice during a visit to São Paulo, prompting Brazil to recall its ambassador — would be barred from entering several nations. The central bank reform, meanwhile, faces its own political hurdle: despite gains in October midterm elections, Milei's coalition does not hold a majority in either chamber and will need to negotiate with allied and opposition blocs to pass the legislation.