Azucena María Arbeleche Perdomo (born 29 September 1970) is a

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an economist and civil servant who serves as Minister of Economy and Finance of Uruguay since March 1, 2020 under president

Luis Lacalle Pou Luis Alberto Aparicio Alejandro Lacalle Pou (; ''Luis Lacalle'' locally or ; born 10 August 1973) is a Uruguayan politician and lawyer serving as President of Uruguay since 1 March 2020. Son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle, Lacalle ...

, being the first woman to hold that office.

Early life and education

Azucena María Arbeleche Perdomo was born in 1970, the daughter of Beltrán José Arbeleche and Theresita Perdomo. She attended

The British Schools of Montevideo The British Schools of Montevideo is a private, coeducational, non-profit school, which aims to give an intensive bilingual education, combining the Uruguayan national curriculum with an English language program. Educational programs and gover ...

, and in 1996 graduated from the

University of the Republic The University of the Republic ( es, Universidad de la República, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is Uruguay's oldest public university. It is by far the country's largest university, as well as the second largest public university in South America and t ...

with a degree in economics. She also obtained a master's degree in applied macroeconomics from the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (''PUC or UC Chile'') ( es, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) is one of the six Catholic Universities existing in the Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical universities i ...

Career

While she was in her fourth year of college, she worked for the

Office of Planning and Budget The Office of Planning and Budget (OPP) ( es, Oficina de Planeamiento y Presupuesto) is a dependency of the Presidency of Uruguay that is responsible for advising the Politics of Uruguay, Executive Power in the formulation of national and depart ...

. From March 1995 to December 1996, she served as a collaborator at BGV Corredores de Bolsa, and from 1998 to 2000 at the Center for Economic and Financial Research in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

. In 2001 she joined the Macroeconomic Advisory of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, at the request of her former professor ant then minister Isaac Alfie. In that position, she participated in the design and implementation of measures against the 2002 crisis, and in the restructuring process of the total

government debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt, or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit oc ...

in May 2003. From 2005 to 2010, she served as an advisor to the Debt Management Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, at the request of then-minister

Danilo Astori Danilo Ángel Astori Saragosa (born April 23, 1940) is a Uruguayan retired social democratic politician who served as the 15th vice president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015 under President José Mujica. A member of Uruguay Assembly– Broad Front, ...

. She was its head from 2011 to 2014, when she resigned to join the presidential campaign of

as economic adviser. Between 2015 and 2019 she dedicated herself to carrying out independent consultancies in debt management abroad through the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

and the Plata Basin Financial Development Fund. She also held the position of director of the Center for Studies of the National Party. Arbeleche was a professor at institutions such as the University of the Republic, the

Catholic University of Uruguay Catholic University of Uruguay (in Spanish: Universidad Católica del Uruguay, acronym UCU) is a private university in Uruguay opened in 1985 (from various previous Catholic teaching institutions). It was the only private university in the count ...

Andrés Bello National University The Andrés Bello National University ( es, Universidad Andrés Bello or Universidad Nacional Andrés Bello :es:Universidad Andrés Bello) (UNAB) is a Chilean private university established in 1988. UNAB is ranked 56th of Latin American unive ...

and the

University of Montevideo The Universidad de Montevideo (in English: ''University of Montevideo'') is a private (catholic, Opus Dei) university located in Montevideo, Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Ur ...

. A member of the National Party, Arbeleche was in charge of economic issues for the presidential campaigns of

in 2014 and 2019. On December 16, 2019, she was formally announced by the president-elect Lacalle Pou as head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, becoming on March 1, 2020 the first woman to hold the position. During the process of reactivating the Uruguayan economy as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Arbeleche expressed her admiration for

Keynesian economics Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output an ...

Other activities

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...

(IDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2020)

Personal life

With her husband Juan Alzugaray, Arbeleche has two sons born in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

and a daughter born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. She is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and has done social work as a catechist and teacher in slums. In 2014 she was featured on the cover of the magazine ''Seis Grados'' of the newspaper '' El Observador''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbeleche, Azucena 1970 births 20th-century economists 21st-century economists Living people National Party (Uruguay) politicians Ministers of Economics and Finance of Uruguay Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni Academic staff of the Catholic University of Uruguay University of the Republic (Uruguay) alumni Academic staff of the University of the Republic (Uruguay) Academic staff of the University of Montevideo Uruguayan economists Uruguayan educators Uruguayan Roman Catholics Uruguayan women educators Female finance ministers Uruguayan civil servants Uruguayan women civil servants Uruguayan women economists People educated at The British Schools of Montevideo