Argentina’s Economy Minister Martín Guzmán resigned this Saturday, 2, amid the political crisis that pitted the country’s president, Alberto Fernández, and the group led by vice president Cristina Kirchner. The government has not yet announced a new name to command the portfolio.
After Guzmán announced his resignation, the government’s Finance Secretary, Raúl Enrique Rigo, also informed that he would leave the economic team. Number 2 in the portfolio since 2019, Rigo defended the policy led by the boss and criticized by vice president Cristina Kirchner.
In more than two decades of his career, Rigo has worked in different areas of the public service and served as Undersecretary of the National Budget between 2002 and 2017. The economist has also been presidential advisor in different governments.
Letter
In a letter addressed to Fernández published on Twitter, Martín Guzmán did not specify the reasons that led to the decision, but defended the economic policy adopted since taking office in 2019. In particular, the 39-year-old economist highlighted the challenges in restructuring the foreign debt. , which had been heavily criticized by Kirchner.
“We played very hard, with concrete actions, the vast majority invisible to the public due to the characteristics of the problem to be solved, and not with inconsequential rhetoric”, he wrote.
Guzmán sought to present a retrospective of his management at the head of the ministry, starting with the recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. According to him, the Argentine authorities worked to mitigate the “tremendous blow” caused by Covid-19. “When I needed the State most to protect the social and productive fabric of the nation, we found ourselves with a deeply weakened State”, he pointed out.
The focus of the letter, however, focused on the issue of indebtedness. In 2020, Buenos Aires struck a deal to restructure $65 billion in sovereign debt with three groups of foreign creditors. Then the government turned its focus to liabilities with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), issued during the administration of former president Mauricio Macri, who faced a crisis of strong devaluation of the Argentine peso.
In March of this year, the Latin American country reached an agreement to pay around US$ 44 billion to the IMF between 2026 and 2034. ) in 2021 to 0.9% in 2024.
The pact, however, divided Fernández’s government. Vice President Kirchner made several public criticisms of promises to reduce public spending. The former president also expressed dissatisfaction with energy policy and the reduction in fuel subsidies.
Inflation
Argentina faces one of the highest inflation rates in the world, with the consumer price index up more than 60% year-on-year in May. The scenario intensifies the flight of dollars from the country, whose international reserves are at very low levels. Since the beginning of the year, the dollar has advanced more than 20% against the Argentine peso, quoted at 125.453 pesos on Friday, the 1st.
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