Argentine president-elect names ex JP Morgan executive as finance minister

[forest444]

Last edited Thu Nov 26, 2015, 04:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Former JP Morgan executive and central bank chief Alfonso Prat-Gay will be Argentina's new finance minister when the government of President-elect Mauricio Macri takes over next month, an official said Wednesday. Macri narrowly won Argentina's presidential election Sunday. In the run up to take over from incumbent President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the president-elect has named several former businessmen who were deeply critical of the outgoing president's interventionist policies to key cabinet positions.

The new government, which is due to take office December 10, will also create an energy and mining ministry to be headed by Juan Jose Aranguren, former CEO of Shell Argentina, future Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña told reporters.

The former Buenos Aires City Bank chief Federico Sturzenegger, a lawmaker from Macri's right-wing PRO party, will be Central Bank head if Alejandro Vanoli steps down, Peña said. Macri economic adviser Rogelio Frigerio will become Interior Minister (whose priniciapl function is overseeing federal revenue sharing), while Francisco Cabrera, the head of a think-tank linked to the party of the incoming president, will become production minister.

Macri, who leads the center-right "Let's Change" alliance, has pledged to open up the country's economy and end more than a decade of free-spending leftist populism and lift protectionist trade and currency controls in Latin America's third largest economy following 12-year rule by Kirchner and her late husband.

The president-elect has also said he plans to reduce the power of the current economy ministry to diversify decision-making, with the finance minister playing a key role in a newly-formed economic cabinet comprising six ministries. He, however, faces huge challenges in doing so. The Central Bank is running low on dollars, the peso currency is overvalued, inflation is in double digits, and the fiscal deficit (6-7% of GDP) is widening sharply.

Prat-Gay said Wednesday that Macri's government plans to present a package of new laws to Congress in its first week. "The president-elect has said he wants them to be lifted as soon as possible and we're working toward that," he said. The Front for Victory (FpV) party to whom President Fernández de Kirchner belongs retained overall control of both houses.

At: http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/238900741/argentine-president-elect-names-ex-jp-morgan-executive-as-finance-minister
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It's also worth mentioning that the qualification Macri has touted most about Prat-Gay, his 2002-04 stint as President of the Central Bank, was notable for his having shelved an ongoing investigation into the US$26 billion wired from Argentina by numerous banks and businesses days before the infamous December 2001 account freeze.

And there's more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/110845605

*Thank you, as well, to think, for posting this story in an earlier comment. Well written, and pretty neutral compared to the fluff being put out by big media on Macri and his gang. http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1108&pid=45598

[deathrind]

1. Well...

That is one way to hand over a sovereign state to corporations...


Wow

[forest444]

2. Equally troubling is the appointment of a Shell executive as Energy Minister

José Aranguren, who as longtime CEO of Shell Argentina has had a cherished - almost personal - goal of destroying the state energy firm YPF, its chief competitor. He also used Shell funds in a January 2014 attempt to create a run on the Argentine peso, but hid his tracks well by using front accounts (nice fellow, huh!).

YPF, as you may know, was renationalized by President Cristina Kirchner in 2012 after several years of neglect and profit offshoring by Repsol (YPF was its largest and most profitable interest), which was fully compensated. YPF has since reversed annual declines of 6% under Repsol, raising output by over 10% last year alone.

Britain's Ecuntomist has also made discrediting YPF (and Argentina) a hobby horse of sorts. Those who followed the Thatcherite mag's advice, missed out on a 190% stock windfall however.

[think]

3. Also Former Monsanto Exec Named Buenos Aires Agriculture Minister

From this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1108&pid=45594

Former Monsanto Exec Named Buenos Aires Agriculture Minister

Former Monsanto Exec Named Buenos Aires Agriculture Minister
Published 25 November 2015 (12 hours 7 minutes ago)

The decision by newly elected governor of Buenos Aires Maria Eugenia Vidal is being met with criticism due to controversy surrounding Monsanto's products.

Leonardo Sarquis, a former executive at Monsanto, has been appointed to the role of minister for agricultural affairs by the freshly elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in Argentina, local media confirmed Tuesday.

Maria Eugenia Vidal won the post of governor during the first round of elections held last month in Argentina. Rumors had been circulating about the appointment of Sarquis to the post for weeks.

Vidal is a member of the right-wing Republican Proposal, the political party of president-elect Mauricio Macri, who ended 12 years of leftist rule by defeating Daniel Scioli during the second round of elections on Sunday.

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Former-Monsanto-Exec-Named-Buenos-Aires-Agriculture-Minister-20151125-0041.html

[deathrind]

5. The hits just keep coming...

Wow, did not know about that appointment.

[forest444]

8. No surprise there, since Vidal and Monsatan have something in common:

Both are right-wing Catholics with close ties to the reactionary sect Opus Dei.

Vidal's election was a veritable heist, and an interesting side story in itself. It was pulled off at the last minute by the Clarín Media Group with a Lara Logan-style "interview" featuring allegations (though no proof) against the Kirchnerist candidate for Governor, Aníbal Fernández. Aired just days before the polls, it featured an ex-con with a rap sheet longer than Ben Carson's nose.

Unbeknownst to the public at the time, the interview was held in the living room of 'Argentina's Michelle Bachmann', Elisa Carrió - who has a long history of Issa-style witch hunts and smear campaigns against Cristina Kirchner, and of using the country's very lax slander laws.

And that's how Vidal got elected.

Thank you, think - and let me know what you think!

[2naSalit]

4. Time to re-read

The Shock Doctrine... 'cause this smells like a sequel to Pinochet.

[deathrind]

7. Excellent book.

Highly recommended. It makes for aggrivated reading. It amazes me that people still think of Milton Friedman in the positive light that they do after his actions with the Pinochet regime. How no one in our government ever went to jail for their actions against Allende or for corroboration with Pinochet. Kissenger should have been jailed long ago.

[2naSalit]

9. Indeed. nt

[Judi Lynn]

6. Astounding. Macri is not good at hiding his intentions. n/t