Julie Kozack and Luis Cubeddu have closely followed the Argentine case in recent years.
Current Deputy Director of the IMF’s Western Hemisphere Department Julie Kozack will step down from her post at the agency. In this way, you will no longer check compliance with the Extended Facilities program that Argentina and the IMF signed this year. Her replacement is still defined. The head of the mission for Argentina will continue to be Luis Cubeddu.
Kozack, an American, will now move to the Department of Europe, where he already was and where he was responsible for Ukraine, Poland and Sweden. The movement is part of a routine rotation explained in the body.
As Deputy Director of the Western Hemisphere, Kozack is responsible for Argentina among a portfolio of other countries. He has held this position since November 2019, when Mauricio Macri’s government ended and Alberto Fernández’s began.
Kozack, together with Luis Cubeddu, worked with Martín Guzmán on a roadmap that first consisted of negotiating with Argentina to restructure the debt with private creditors and, subsequently, that of the stand-by credit taken in 2018. the latter resulted in an Extended Facilities program worth approximately $ 45 billion that Kirchnerism rejected and did not vote in Congress this year.
Kozack was also important for the Argentine case because between August 2021 and early 2022, the position of Director of the Western Hemisphere was vacant after the departure of Alejandro Werner, an economist whom he opposed from the beginning. the Argentine team and Kirchnerism. Ilan Goldfajn from Brazil took over earlier this year. Kozack was now operating under Goldfajn’s orbit.
Kozack’s period at the helm of his current position can be said to coincide with that of Guzmán. Both started in November 2019 (the minister actually took office in December but his name was released earlier) and left in July 2023.
“As part of a necessary but routine institutional rotation of the Fund’s senior staff, Julie Kozack will leave the Western Hemisphere Department and take up the position of Deputy Director in the IMF’s European Department,” said a Fund spokesperson. Kozack will continue to work in Argentina until September to ensure a smooth transition and continuity in her current position. Her position will be filled relatively quickly and we will notify you when a selection is made. “
Ezechiele Burgo
Source: Clarin
