Silvina Batakis, the new economy minister, has already warned that she will respect the agreement with the IMF

The new Minister of Economy Silvina Batakis sent two signals important in the last few hours: he will respect the agreement with the IMF and will align himself with vice president Cristina Kirchner. In this way, from the surrounding environment they tried clear up doubts emerged in the last few hours in the face of the versions promoted by some sectors of Kirchnerism in this regard a possible revision of the agreement with the body after the slam of Martín Guzmán.

Batakis will have a busy agenda this Monday: he will first disembark at the Palazzo del Tesoro and meet the President. Daniel Scioli’s former Minister of Economy and current official of the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo Wado De Pedro, learned last night at 20:00 of his appointment, after intense negotiations between the vice president, Serge Massa Y Alberto Fernandez to close on Twitter the political crisis triggered by Guzmán’s resignation.

One of the main challenges will be the achievement of the Fund’s objectives. His predecessor negotiated greater flexibility in second quarter targets given the difficulty of reducing the budget deficit to 2.5% and accumulate $ 5.8 billion in reserves in 2022.

In return, he promised to face a sharp adjustment in the second half, with a reduction in spending on pensions and public works. The organism It also calls for a further rate hike and acceleration of the dollar.

“The appointment is with Cristina’s permission and Silvina thinks a lot like her, I don’t think he wants to review the agreement with the Fundthis issue must be respected “, said official sources.

Batakis will come hence with more support than Guzmán enjoyed and a different profile than what they might offer Martin Redrado, Marco Lavagna or Emmanuel Álvarez Agisthree economists with a good dialogue with the market, who rejected the position.

In 2018, the new minister questioned the “absolute submission” to the IMF of the management of Maurizio Macri and pointed to the “recessive” recipes, while during the management of the Fronte di Tutti he participated in the meetings with the mission of the organization at Casa Rosada, keeping a low profile.

Today he receives a good reception in Scioli, La Cámpora and the governors, with whom he has negotiated the funds for the provinces face to face during the tours of Wado de Pedro and Guzmán.

The outgoing minister isolated himself on Sunday with his team on the fifth floor from 4 pm until late at night to “sort” the newspapers. He has prepared a balance sheet of his management and a battery of pending tasks, such as tariff segmentation, the Néstor Kirchner pipeline, the regulation of access to foreign currency in the energy sector, the 2023 Budget and the negotiations with the Paris Club. .

Last steps

In his final steps, on Sunday the economist promised Parisian creditors “continuity” in the steps. On Wednesday he had received US support in the face of mounting criticism from the former president of the plan agreed with Washington to lower inflation.

The memorandum signed in March was presented as a lifeline to avoid defaults and devaluations. But since then there has been a financial rush, a currency crisis and the resignation of its architect.

Before slamming the door, Guzmán asked the President to take full control of the Economy, Energy and Central Bank. He didn’t understand it. And with his departure, some official offices cut off his phone and branded him “traitor”.

Now, Batakis will have fewer obstacles to coordinating economic policy with those areas, but there are doubts whether it will continue with the “orthodox” plan that Guzmán promised the banks weeks ago.