Argentina taps Silvina Batakis as Economy Minister to tackle crisis

Argentine President Alberto Fernández tapped Silvina Batakis as the country’s new economy minister Sunday after her predecessor Martín Guzmán resigned Saturday, deepening a political crisis boiling over into the economy and markets.

Batakis inherits a long list of economic challenges - including inflation projected to exceed 70% this year, as well as market doubts over the government’s ability to service a $44 billion refinance program agreed on between Guzmán and the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF debt had been inherited from the right-wing Mauricio Macri administration - which reportedly obtained the record, election-eve bailout in 2018 at the behest of former President Donald Trump.

The announcement capped more than a day of suspense and uncertainty sparked by Guzmán’s resignation following two and half years in the top economic job.

Batakis, 53, was the economy minister of Buenos Aires province from 2011 to 2015 under then-governor Daniel Scioli, a center-left coalition leader who recently became production minister.

Scioli, who narrowly lost the 2015 election to Macri, had tapped Batakis as his Economy Minister had he won.

At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-04/argentina-taps-batakis-as-economy-minister-to-tackle-crisis

Incoming Argentine Economy Minister Silvina Batakis.

Batakis' designation was supported by both Production Minister Daniel Scioli and Vice President Cristina Kirchner.

Kirchner had come to oppose Batakis' predecessor, Martín Guzmán, over what she saw as overly tight monetary policy and fiscal conservatism.

Guzmán, however, is widely credited with averting an outright collapse in Argentina's economy - including defusing a debt crisis inherited from the right-wing Macri administration, navigating the 2020 global Covid crisis, and returning the country to strong growth after nearly a decade of stagnation.