Hernán Lacunza Sworn in as Finance Minister, Seeks Macroeconomic Stability
Argentina
22 agosto 2019

On August 20 Hernán Lacunza was sworn in as Argentina’s Finance minister following the resignation of Nicolás Dujovne over the weekend. During the ceremony, President Mauricio Macri asked for any decisions taken until December 10 to “focus on caring for the Argentines and lowering the cost of living for everybody” because of the “uncertainties” surrounding the electoral process. At the same time, Macri urged Lacunza to “open up any bridges and dialogue channels with as many people and sectors as possible in order to reduce the uncertainties doing so much harm.”

After the swearing-in, Lacunza gave a press conference and stated that the agreement with the International Monetary Fund will be respected: “We are going to guarantee compliance with the fiscal guidelines agreed with the IMF,” he said, adding that the value of the dollar for the time being is fine and that “there is no need for a higher exchange rate.”

Lacunza is an economist from the University of Buenos Aires and has a postgraduate degree in Economics from the Torcuato Di Tella University. He was appointed Minister of Economy of the province of Buenos Aires in 2015, and before that was the general manager of Banco Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

Just after Lacunza’s press conference, the president of the Argentine Central Bank (BCRA), Guido Sandleris, referred to the monetary program due to be implemented shortly saying that the goal is to “contain the impact of financial flows on the real economy” and that they will continue to “consistently absorb pesos.” He added that they will proceed to “intervene in the exchange market as required.”

In reference to BCRA reserves, he said that “there has been much debate over the use of reserves. They are in place to stabilize the exchange rate and ensure the overall stability of the financial system. They will not be used to contain prices of economic assets when these stray from their fundamentals.” He echoed Lacunza in saying that “the exchange rate is at a competitive level.”

However, Sandleris admitted that the recent jump in the exchange rate had impacted negatively on prices and that inflation “will rise in August and September,” although he added that “the monetary scheme implemented since October last year is still in force and we believe it is successful in anchoring expectations.”

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