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Macri announces Argentina's incoming cabinet

November 26, 2015

Argentine President-elect Macri has tapped a number of business managers for cabinet positions. Former central bank chief Alfonso Prat Gay will become finance minister in a sign of moves towards economic liberalization.

https://p.dw.com/p/1HCi8
Incoming Argentinian President Mauricio Macri
Image: Reuters/I. Alvarado

Incoming finance minister Alfonso Prat Gay is a former JP Morgan executive who served as head of Argentina's central bank between 2002 and 2004. He is one of several US-educated bankers and executives given key posts by President-elect Mauricio Macri on Wednesday.

Center-right businessman Macri won Argentina's presidential runoff vote on Sunday, vowing to tackle the country's economic woes and end more than a decade of public spending. He is the country's first democratically elected non-radical or Peronist president since 1916.

Macri picked Marcos Pena to be his cabinet chief when he takes office on December 10. Susana Malcorra will be Argentina's new foreign minister. Malcorra is currently the chief of staff to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Economist Rogelio Frigerio was appointed Interior Minister and Julio Martinez will take the defense portfolio. Former Shell executive Juan Jose Aranguren will be minister of energy and mines.

Pro-business leaders

One member of outgoing President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's current cabinet will be retained. Lino Baranao, the minister of science and technology, will remain in his post.

"He has been carrying out a very valuable program of science and technology," Pena said, describing the investment as "one of the most successful policies of Cristina's government."

Several new ministers come from parties within the center-right Cambiemos coalition.

Macri beat ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli in a presidential runoff Sunday, ending 12 years of dominance by Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor in office, Nestor Kirchner.

Macri vowed to liberalize the economy and lift restrictions on imports and US dollar transactions.

Fernandez, the most popular female political figure since the iconic 1940s first lady Eva Peron, has vowed that she will not leave the political stage. Her comments have fueled speculation that she may run again for president in 2019.

mm/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)