Argentine Minister of Finance Resigns in the Wake of Primary Results

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina’s Finance Minister Nicolás Dujovne resigned from office yesterday, August 17th, according to national news agency Télam.

President Mauricio Macri called on Hernán Lacunza, Minister of Economy of the Province of Buenos Aires, to fill the post.

Dujovne, who had been in office since January 2017, handed Macri his letter of resignation, in which he said that he was “convinced that, due to the prevailing circumstances, the administration needs a significant renewal in the economic area.”

In his letter, Dujovne acknowledged errors in the conduct of the Argentine economy but said that he had taken action to correct them. “We have succeeded in reducing the deficit and public spending, in reducing distorted taxes in provinces, in recovering federalism. We also, without a doubt, made mistakes, which we never hesitated to acknowledge and we did the best we could to correct them,” he said.

Dujovne’s resignation comes a week after the primary election result that triggered a crisis within the government.

The slate of Alberto Fernández and former president Cristina Kirchner defeated Macri by the significant margin of over fifteen percent, becoming heavy favorites for the presidential elections in October.

After the election results, Macri announced a package of economic measures to mitigate the impacts of the economic recession in Argentina.

Among the measures is the payment of wage bonuses for all types of workers (civil servants, private, and informal enterprises), increasing the minimum wage and allowing small and medium-sized companies to renegotiate their tax debts over ten years.

He further announced a reduction in pensioners’ income tax and a 40 percent increase in student grants. Macri also promised to freeze the price of gasoline for 90 days, but after a poor reaction, he retreated.

The new Finance Minister, Hernán Lacunza, 49, holds a degree in economics. Before directing the Buenos Aires Ministry of Economy, he held the positions of director-general of the Argentine Central Bank and the Municipal Bank of the City of Buenos Aires.