Argentina appoints a second economy minister in less than a month

First modification: 07/29/2022 – 04:53

Sergio Massa, the new economy minister and second in less than a month, will be in charge of overseeing economic, manufacturing and agricultural policy. Massa currently heads the lower house of Congress for the ruling Peronist coalition.

The ministerial change displaces the current Minister of Economy Silvina Batakis to the direction of Banco Nación, and occurs just under a month after the abrupt resignation of her predecessor.

The changes reflect tensions between different wings of the ruling center-left coalition over how to deal with spiraling consumer prices, public debt and a peso that hit record lows last week.

The change in the Cabinet is the third in less than two months, in a scenario of strong divisions in the governing Frente de Todos, between the Kirchnerist wing, which responds to Argentine Vice President Cristina Fernández, and the more moderate Peronism, allied with Alberto Fernández. .

Massa will be a minister once his removal from his bench is formally resolved as a deputy, the government reported.

But it was not the only change announced. Fernández accepted the resignation of Julián Domínguez as Minister of Agriculture and that of Gustavo Béliz as Secretary of Strategic Affairs of the Presidency, a position that will now be assumed by Mercedes Marcó del Pont, until now head of the Argentine Treasury.

raise the interest rate

The Central Bank also increased the reference interest rate by eight percentage points, to 60%, in its seventh rise this year. The measure seeks to control rising inflation, which analysts speculate will reach 80% by the end of this year.

Analysts offer conflicting views on the president’s attempt to turn the page on weeks of economic turmoil, citing lingering imbalances strengthened by rising consumer prices and currency market volatility.

“The policy response can be characterized as a band-aid effort, lacking the consistency and breadth required to stabilize the economy,” JP Morgan noted in a research note after Massa’s appointment.

Who is Sergio Massa?

Massa, leader of the Renovating Front, the third force with the greatest weight within the Frente de Todos coalition, was chief of staff of the Government of Cristina Fernández between 2007-2015, to later lead the opposition Peronism to the then president.

He currently has good relations with the head of state as well as with the vice president.

“Massa’s incorporation into President Fernandez’s Cabinet strengthens the Government and the link that unites the Front of All with the concerns of Argentine men and women,” said Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero.

Massa, 50 years old and a lawyer by profession, assumes the battered Argentine economy in the midst of a complex global scenario and with high inflation that the country has been dragging for years, which in June registered 64% year-on-year.

With EFE and Reuters