Amid the general uncertainty, his possible replacement is still unknown. “We have to wait,” a presidential spokeswoman told Reuters.
An official source reported that, once the resignation was known, Fernández summoned members of his cabinet and political allies to an emergency meeting in the presidential residence of Olivos, -in the suburbs of Buenos Aires-.
“With the deep conviction and confidence in my vision of the path that Argentina should follow, I will continue working and acting for a more just, free and sovereign Homeland,” said former Minister Guzmán in a letter addressed to the president that he published in your Twitter account.
Experts expect Argentina to register inflation above 70% in 2022, one of the factors that explains the investor mistrust that led to a 13% drop in sovereign bonds in June.
A government source confided to Reuters that Guzmán’s departure from the cabinet was due to the lack of political support felt by the now former official to deepen a series of measures, just at a time when the country’s risk marked its all-time high.
Two Economy Ministry officials, who asked not to be identified, said Guzmán’s position had become untenable, especially without support for his economic agenda.
“He couldn’t continue without the tools and with (vice president) Cristina (Fernández de Kirchner) against him,” said one of the two people. “When things are no longer possible, it is an act of responsibility to leave,” she said.
Guzmán represented the most “rational” faction of the ruling party’s economic team and faced criticism from members of the Frente de Todos who demanded a greater presence of the State in the economy and increased public spending. Among them, the powerful Vice President Fernández de Kirchner.
That is why the resignation of other officials of the Palacio de Hacienda is also expected, all close to the hitherto minister, who assumed the portfolio in December 2019 with the parchments of a doctorate at Columbia University under the direction of the Nobel Prize in Economics Joseph Stiglitz.
In this context, the Undersecretary of Financing, Ramiro Tosi, and the Secretary of Tax Policy, Roberto Arias, resigned.