“The Minister of Economy is Luis Caputo”, confirmed Javier Milei on La Red radio, upon returning from a stay in the United States, where the latter accompanied him. The Argentine president met with close advisers to US President Joe Biden. Luis Caputo and other collaborators also participated in a technical meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The president-elect assured that his future minister had received a ” excellent “ welcome to the IMF, which “understands the challenge perfectly” to which Argentina is “confronted”. The country is struggling to repay a $44 billion debt to the IMF, the legacy of a loan granted in 2018 under Macri’s presidency.
Luis Caputo, nicknamed “Toto”, 58, was secretary of state then minister of finance under the mandate of Mauricio Macri, and briefly, in 2018, president of the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina (BCRA). His private career, before politics, included positions of responsibility in the sale and purchase of financial assets on Wall Street on behalf of the American bank JP Morgan.
In the government under the presidency of Mauricio Macri, he was credited in 2017 with the so-called “centenary bonds” operation, the issue of hundred-year bonds which found takers on the capital markets, a signal then considered positive despite the precarious situation of the country.
Javier Milei fears “hyperinflation”
Javier Milei recently called Luis Caputo a “best finance expert in the country”. “When we look at the nature of Argentina’s problems, when we see that, out of the 15 points of budget deficit [selon Javier Milei]10 come from the central bank, it is clear that the first problem to solve is the Leliqs », he said Wednesday. Leliqs are a short-term debt instrument issued in pesos by the BCRA to support the national currency. According to Javier Milei, they have reached an insolvent level and threaten the country with “hyperinflation”.
An ultraliberal and anti-system economist with controversial positions on climate change and abortion, among others, Javier Milei resoundingly won the presidential election on November 19 against the outgoing Minister of the Economy, Sergio Massa, candidate of the bloc. government (center left). During the campaign, he promised to dollarize the country’s economy, which is in decline, to the detriment of the peso.
Since his election, he has tempered hopes for a rapid turnaround in the economy, saying it would be necessary “eighteen to twenty-four months” to control inflation, currently 143% at an annual rate, and that the ” Implementation “ of a dollarization of the economy could wait a year. The main priority for him is a drastic reduction in the budget deficit.