After Martín Guzmán resigned from Argentina’s Minister of Economy, Silvina Batakis was taken over by President Alberto Fernández to head the portfolio. Argentine government spokesperson Gabriela Cerruti made the announcement on her Twitter account on Sunday night. “Batakis is a renowned economist who held this role in the province of Buenos Aires from 2011 to 2015,” Cerruti wrote. At the time, Daniel Scioli, Argentina’s former ambassador to Brazil, was the governor of the province.
Scioli, who now serves at the Ministry of Productive Development, praised the decision on Twitter, writing for Batakis: “A person with a great human quality and extensive professional training. A tireless worker with a great sense of responsibility and extraordinary experience”.
His academic background includes: an Economics degree from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata, an MSc in Provincial Public Finance from the same university, and a MA in Environmental Economics from York University, UK.
Next to Kirchnerism
To defuse the political crisis triggered by Martín Guzmán’s resignation, President Alberto Fernández chose as his successor someone close to the group led by Vice President Cristina Kirchner. The portfolio’s new owner, Silvina Batakis, was recommended by Kirchner, according to several Argentine media outlets.
The 53-year-old economist has been circulating among Kirchnerist circles for decades. From 2011 to 2015 he led the economic team for the province of Buenos Aires during the administration of then-governor Daniel Scioli, one of Kirchner’s main allies.
When he ran for president in 2015, Scioli had signaled that he would appoint Batakis as economy minister. However, he lost to Mauricio Macri. Currently, Batakis serves as provincial secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, headed by Peronist Eduardo “Wado” De Pedro.
The selection represents a nod from Fernández to Kirchner. According to the newspaper El KronistaIt was reported that the two had a 25-minute phone call on Sunday night and the verdict was announced. The vice president was above all publicly critical of the Guzman administration, which was dissatisfied with its plans to cut public spending.
Reducing the fiscal deficit was one of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) responses requested for Argentina’s US$44 billion debt restructuring program with the multilateral agency. Kirchner openly expressed his opposition to the terms of the agreement and rejected the idea that expansionist economic policy was responsible for the increase in inflation in the country.
When announcing his resignation on Saturday, Guzman did not specifically mention the reasons that led to the decision, but the letter in which he announced his departure was published as Kirchner echoed his criticisms.
source: Noticias
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