BUENOS AIRES, Aug 21 (NNN-XINHUA) — Argentine President Mauricio Macri swore in his new finance minister Hernan Lacunza, calling on him to steady the country’s economy rocked by recent presidential primary elections.
“I want to thank Hernan Lacunza for accepting this complicated responsibility at such a difficult time for Argentina,” Macri said at the swearing-in ceremony.
Argentina would keep 2019 fiscal targets, while the current priority is to stabilize the peso, said Lacunza, former general manager of the Buenos Aires City Bank and former economy minister of Buenos Aires Province.
Outgoing finance chief Nicolas Dujovne resigned on Saturday, following an economic fallout due to Macri and his conservative ruling party’s defeat in the primary elections.
On Aug. 11, Macri’s Together for Change party received a little more than 30 percent of the vote, while the central-left opposition, the Justicialist party led by former cabinet chief Alberto Fernandez, garnered nearly 50 percent.
After the primary round of voting, the peso devalued more than 20 percent against the U.S. dollar, the local stock market and Argentine stocks on Wall Street took a dive, and the international country risk index exceeded 1,900 basis points, a record in a decade.
Interior Minister Rogelio Frigerio said the result “sent us a very clear message that we have to acknowledge especially the middle class didn’t feel taken care of.”
Despite Macri’s promise to strengthen the economy when he took office in 2015, Argentina is currently influenced by a monetary crisis, which led to a record loan from the International Monetary Fund, its largest ever granted. The loan agreement also brought about unpopular austerity measures.
Argentina will hold general elections on Oct 27 to choose a new president whose term would be from 2019 to 2023. — NNN-XINHUA
