Less than a month following appointing Silvina Batakis as Minister of Economy, President Alberto Fernández appointed a new head of the portfolio. at a time when the government is going through a political and financial crisis.
The new Minister of Economy will be the current president of the Chamber of Deputies and leader of the Renovating Front, Sergio Massa, who will also be in charge of Productive Development and Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, thus acquiring the character of “super minister”.
Its functions will also include relations with international, bilateral and multilateral credit organizations.
President Alberto Fernández “decided to reorganize the economic areas of his cabinet for better functioning, coordination and management,” the government said in a statement.
He also specified that Massa will assume the position once his departure as head of the Chamber of Deputies is resolved.
According to Argentine media reported earlier, Batakis would have offered his resignation to President Fernández this morning and both would have agreed that he will remain in the government in a position yet to be defined, which is not ruled out that it might be that of deputy minister.
Batakis returned to Argentina this Thursday, following having met in Whashington with authorities from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), on a flight that had an unusual delay.
Silvina Batakis took office on July 3 following Martín Guzmán, an economic moderate who this year negotiated the deal with the IMF, resigned in part because government officials appointed by Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner prevented him from implementing an energy policy as he wanted.
Batakis is an ally of Cristina K, long-time antagonist of global markets and the IMF.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Labor, Claudio Moroni would also have presented his resignation, which was not accepted.