Argentine President-elect Mauricio Macri named former JP Morgan executive and ex-central bank chief Alfonso Prat-Gay his finance minister on Wednesday in a sign that he will move quickly to restore the bank’s autonomy and free up the economy.
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The era he hopes to end is that of Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor Nestor Kirchner who rewrote Argentina’s social contract and dominated the nation’s political scene with a mix of patronage, charisma and withering attacks on opponents.
Unlike the left-leaning Fernandez de Kirchner, Macri is a center-right politician and former businessman who has promised to lift foreign exchange market regulations, devaluate the peso, and reduce taxes on exports. “We have to build an Argentina with zero poverty, we have to confront the drug smuggling”, he said.
Official results gave Macri 51.8 percent of the votes and 48.2 percent for Scioli, with 95 percent of ballots counted.
“We will have good dialogue with the Peronists in Congress to get the tools we need to get the country moving”, he said.
Mr Macri, unlike the Peronists, has pledged to strike a deal with United States hedge funds who bought “distressed” bonds following Argentina’s 2001-02 default and are continuing to insist on being paid the full face value.
Many investors in Argentina and internationally are hopeful Macri’s election will usher in an era of pro-business economics and shift away from Fernandez’s populist policies. He also said he plans to keep some big nationalized companies, like Aerolineas Argentinas, under government control, but he also promised to steer a centrist economic course and work with, instead of against, the private sector. Doing that would probably lead to a sharp devaluation of the Argentine peso.
Analysts also cautioned that Macri may struggle to get his reforms past hostile lawmakers.
Macri, the outgoing mayor of Buenos Aires and the owner of the Boca Juniors football team, has close ties with the country’s Jewish community.
Scioli conceded defeat but others in the Peronist camp were more defiant. Macri’s victory hits Argentina like a political tidal wave, and it explains why Macri declared that “today is an historic day”.
“I am a democrat and I respect the popular will, which has chosen an alternative”, he said.
“Even so, Macri’s top foreign policy priority will be to rebuild Brazil’s confidence in a troubled trade relationship and he has said his first trip overseas will be to meet with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff”.
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Growth was relatively slow at 2.2 percent in the first half of this year and inflation exceeds 20 percent. Fernandez had invited him to the Casa Rosada presidential palace to talk on the transition, which must be completed by December 10.
