“Messi of finance”: Argentina’s economics minister nominated

This content was published on November 29, 2023 – 4:10 p.m

29. November 2023 – 16:10

(Keystone-SDA)

The future Argentine President Javier Milei has nominated the experienced financial expert Luis Caputo as Minister of Economy.

The former finance minister and central bank chief will lead the important ministry after taking office on December 10th, Milei said in a radio interview on Wednesday after returning from a trip to the USA.

Caputo is well connected in international finance and Argentine politics. Former President Mauricio Macri once described him as the “Messi of finance” – a comparison to Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi. As finance minister and head of the central bank, Caputo brought the country back into the international financial market after the national bankruptcy in 2014 and led debt negotiations with several US hedge funds.

Observers see Caputo’s nomination for the economics portfolio as a sign that Milei will not take any too radical steps after taking office. During the election campaign, the future president announced that he would introduce the US dollar as legal tender, abolish the central bank and many ministries and radically cut social spending.

South America’s second largest economy is in a deep crisis. The inflation rate is over 140 percent, and around 40 percent of people in the once rich country live below the poverty line. Argentina suffers from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of a lot of tax revenue. The national currency, the peso, continues to lose value against the US dollar and the mountain of debt is constantly growing.