Argentine Economy Minister Guzman resigns as divisions grow
Argentine Economy Minister Martín Guzmán resigned Saturday, marking the biggest departure of President Alberto Fernández’s government after infighting within the center-left ruling coalition escalated.
Guzmán announced his decision in a seven-page letter published on Twitter. No replacement was immediately announced.
The minister had come under pressure as Argentines battle heightened inflation of more than 60%.
The shakeup also raises doubts over whether Argentina can comply with a $44 billion refinance program with the International Monetary Fund, whose goals and objectives for the second half are seen by private economists view as too challenging to reach.
Guzmán, a 39-year-old economist who worked at Columbia University alongside Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, lost support over the last months from the far-left wing of the coalition led by Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Lawmakers loyal to her in Congress voted against the IMF agreement he negotiated, even though the deal was approved with ample backing.
Under Guzmán, the country refinanced debts of $44 billion with the IMF and $66 billion with foreign bondholders - and saw 10.4% growth last year and 5.7% so far this year, after three years of deep recession.
At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-02/argentina-economy-minister-guzm-n-resigns-as-divisions-grow
Argentine President Alberto Fernández and Economy Minister Martín Guzmán during a June 6 press conference - their last joint appearance before Guzmán's resignation today.
Guzmán, a protégé of Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, earned plaudits for refinancing over half the country's public foreign debt and for strong growth following an inherited "Macrisis" (2018-19) and the 2020 global Covid shutdown.
But he had angered the governing coalition's left wing by resisting calls for looser monetary policy and more generous energy subsidies.
