Lacunza and Borenstein, the profile of the economists working on Larreta’s plan

In his race to become a presidential candidate, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta launched the concept of Generation 23. A slogan with a refounding spirit that recalls the generation of the 80s, mentioned in the presidents Roca and Pelegrini of the late 1800s and early 1900s, when Argentina it was the granary of the world.

The truth is that Larreta has put together a group of economists perhaps to regain the initiative in this field. She announced it in a tweet: “We will continue to work on the development problems that Argentina needs to get out of stagnation and grow.”

They define the strategic sectors to return to growth and double exports in 6 years. I’m: agribusiness and biotechnology, energy and bioenergy, mining, tourism, knowledge-based services and manufacturing.

According to Julia Pomares, head of the councilors of the city government, the axes of this plan are four: international inclusion, incorporation of cutting-edge technologies, simplification and deregulation, integration of the educational process to the production needs of the 21st century.

“There will be no sustainable economic program without sustained growth in external sales. The restriction is not external but internal: it’s not that we don’t have the ability to generate foreign currency, but that we are unable to hold them voluntarily, resulting in exchange restrictions (cepos) that fuel distrust,” Rodriguez Larreta said in the first meeting.

The chief economist is Hernan Lacunza, former economy minister in Macri’s last period, when they lost the Paso. A UBA graduate with a Di Tella master’s degree, he served as María Eugenia Vidal’s minister in 2015 until he succeeded Nicolás Dujovne in August. In that moment of anxiety and crisis he deferred debt payments in pesos, set limits on the purchase of dollars in what was read as a “responsible” attitude in order not to leave the Central Bank’s coffers empty. Lacunza is the team manager.

He is joined by Andrés Borenstein, economist at the UBA and with a Masters in Finance from Di Tella. He was a journalist from clarion. He was the Buenos Aires-based chief economist for South America for the UK government and is currently an associate director of Econviews. Borenstein will be responsible for the macroeconomic field together with Milagros Gismondi.

Pomares, PhD in Political Science at the London School of Economics, former CEO of Cippec, the public policy think tank and current chief adviser to Larreta will be Lacunza’s right-hand man.

Luis Secco will also perform in the area macroeconomic. In Knowledge Economy it will be Daniela Ramos. Martín Etchegoyen, former director of the UIA and undersecretary of industry under Macri, will be in charge of industrial policy together with Fernando Grasso. Ricardo Negri, who was head of Senasa in the Cambiemos government, will be in Agro-industry and Santiago Dondo, in Mining.