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Argentina’s Milei names next finance minister after US trip

  • Mercados: Battery materials, Biofuels, Crude oil, Natural gas, Oil products
  • 29/11/23

Montevideo, 29 November (Argus) —Argentina’s president-elect Javier Milei continues to assemble his administration, naming Luis Caputo to lead the critical economy and finance ministry on 29 November.

The announcement came shortly after Milei and Caputo, who served in the same post in the previous decade, returned to Argentina from a two-day trip to the United States to meet officials with the administration of US president Joe Biden and talk to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Milei traveled to the US to explain his sweeping plan for economic change. He met with Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan, to discuss economic priorities including investment in clean energy.

Energy issues, from continued monetization of the country’s Vaca Muerta shale play, to installation of renewable energy projects, will be a top priority as the Milei government tries to tackle inflation, which was 120pc in the first 10 months of this year, and stop the economy from contracting. The economy is forecast to shrink from 2.5pc this year.

Vaca Muerta holds proven reserves of 308 Tcf of gas and 16bn bl of oil, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Argentina also has the second-largest amount of lithium resources in the world, according US Geological Survey data.

Milei, a right-wing congressman, warned the country on 29 November that a period of “stagflation” was ahead as his incoming government plans to tighten its belt and move forward with his plan of replacing the Argentinian peso with the US dollar and closing the central bank. He said “the only government wallet that will be open” will be for the new human capital ministry that will unite education, health and labor under one roof.

Milei was in Washington with Caputo, who met with Treasury officials and the IMF. Argentina has a $44bn debt with the IMF, with billions of dollars in payments coming due in the next few months.

In addition to Caputo, Milei confirmed the appointment of Eduardo Rodriguez as the new energy secretary. The energy secretariat, which is currently under the economy ministry, will move to the infrastructure ministry under Milei. Rodriguez, a lawyer, worked on the privatization of Argentinian state-owned firms in the 1990s. Milei has pledged new privatizations, including the 51pc in the state-owned oil company, YPF, and power company, Enarsa.

Milei will take office on 10 December, replacing president Alberto Fernandez, who did not run for reelection.

By Lucien Chauvin

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