The Ministry of Treasury announces the appointment of Gustavo Lopetegui as Government Secretary of Energy replacing Javier Iguacel.

Javier Iguacel submitted his resignation as Secretary of Energy to President Mauricio Macri and offered his cooperation for the transformation project of Argentina.

Gustavo Lopetegui was working as Adviser to the President. From December 2015 to September 2018 Lopetegui was Secretary of Coordination of Public Policies in the Chief of Cabinet Office.

He is a National Public Accountant and holds a Degree in Business Administration by the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa. Lopetegui also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Management by the Universidad de Navarra and has an extensive experience in the public and private sectors.

In the private sector, he worked at the consultancy firm McKinsey in Spain, the United States, Brazil and Argentina. He founded Eki mini-mart chain and the dairy firm PampaCheese. In addition, he was General Manager of Lan Argentina. In the public sector, he was Minister of Production of the Province of Buenos Aires.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Public Works and Housing, Rogelio Frigerio, attended the first day of the 12th China-LAC Business Summit together with the Undersecretary of International Financial Relations, Gustavo Bordet.

The event is the first promotion mechanism and platform for economic and trade cooperation between China and Latin America & the Caribbean. Within this framework, Minister Rogelio Frigerio presented the regional macroeconomic situation and focused on the opportunities to improve infrastructure and connectivity between the regions. “Promoting integration between our production systems, and above all between our people, within a framework of respect for diversity, will lead us to a prosperous future with opportunities for everyone”, Mr. Minister said.

The Summit is organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to foster cooperation, trade and investment. Currently, it is attended by more than 2,000 participants including businessmen, diplomats and Government officials from China, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, highlighted that the loan covers the financing needs until the end of President Mauricio Macri’s Administration.

The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, together with the Chief of Cabinet of the Ministry of Finance, Pablo Quirno, and the Secretary of Finance, Santiago Bausili, held a meeting with brokers, insurance companies and mutual funds, to give more details on the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Later, they held a conference call with more than 500 international investors.

Within this framework, Caputo highlighted: “The agreement has exceeded every analyst’s and markets expectations; we have USD 50 billion plus the USD 6.65 billion of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank and the CAF, which erases any uncertainty whatsoever on the economic plan and the market situation”.

This way, Mr. Minister explained that the agreement “accelerates primary balance without disruptions”. Likewise, he said that the Argentine Central Bank reinforces its autonomy and improves its balance sheet, because there will be no more financing to the Treasury and it will begin to reduce the number of Lebacs”. “Finally, the financing issue is solved, because the package is big enough to meet the financing needs until the end of President Macri’s Administration”, he added.

Regarding Lebacs, Mr. Minister said: “While the Treasury is being financed in pesos or dollars in the local market, we are going to buy non-transferable bonds to the Central Bank, which, at the same time, will reduce the stock of Lebacs. Thus, the Treasury cancels the debt inside the public sector, buying debt to the private sector”.

Likewise, Caputo said: “The Central Bank will continue to be in charge of the monetary intervention policy”. “From the Ministry of Finance, and through Banco Nación, we are going to sell only the surplus of dollars to cover deficit”, he concluded.

The following officials also attended the event: the President of the Argentine Bolsa de Comercio, Adelmo Gabbi; the President of Bolsas y Mercados Argentinos (BYMA), Ernesto Allaria; the broker José Cirillo; the Manager of Development of Capital Markets of Bolsa de Comercio, Claudio Zuchovicki; and the President of the Argentine Chamber of Mutual Funds, Valentín Galardi.

The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, and the Chief of Cabinet, Pablo Quirno, met this afternoon at the building of the Ministry of Treasury with the presidents of the banks to evaluate the political and economic context and to talk about the market situation.