Buenos Aires, 11 December 2023 (dpa/MIA) - New President Javier Milei has reduced the number of government ministries in Argentina by half, keeping a promise made during the election campaign.

This cut was necessary "to rationalize the actions of the nation-state and make them more efficient," said a government announcement on Monday.

Milei, an ultra-liberal economist and self-described "anarcho-capitalist," signed the decree on Sunday after being sworn in as president in a Buenos Aires ceremony attended by a slew of world leaders.

The number of ministries will shrink from 18 to nine.

A new Ministry of Human Capital was created that combines the axed ministries of social development, health, labour and education. The former Ministry of Women, Genders and Diversity is now subordinate to the Human Capital Ministry.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights will now only be called the Ministry of Justice - a renaming that the Pagina 12 newspaper called "a clear symbolic-political message that remains true to the denial discourse about the crimes committed by the dictatorship."

Sunday marked the 40th anniversary of Argentina's return to democracy after military dictatorship.

Milei won the November election on a platform of radical demands for an economic and political turnaround. He said that he would introduce the US dollar as legal tender, abolish the central bank and drastically cut social spending.

He has since softened his rhetoric considerably and postponed or toned down many of his original plans. He also brought several experienced politicians into his Cabinet, whom he had previously vilified as members of the "caste" he despised.

Photo: MIA archive