Jorge Roberto Hernán Lacunza (born February 25, 1969) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, appointed in 2019 as Minister of the Treasury of the

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previou ...

administration.

Biography

He received a bachelor's degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one o ...

in 1994. Between 1997 and 1998 he completed a postgraduate degree in economics at

Torcuato di Tella University The Torcuato Di Tella University (''Universidad Torcuato Di Tella'', commonly referred to as UTDT or La Di Tella) is a non-profit private university founded in 1991. Located Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is focused primarily on social sciences. The ...

Political career

In the private function, Lacunza was economic analyst at Scotiabank Quilmes (2004–2007) and a consultant at the Capital Foundation (2007–2002). From 2002 to 2005 Lacunza was director of the Center for International Economics at the

Secretary of Commerce The United States secretary of commerce (SecCom) is the head of the United States Department of Commerce. The secretary serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters relating to commerce. The secretary rep ...

and International Economic Relations within the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

. Lacunza was appointed as General Manager at

Central Bank of Argentina The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic ( es, Banco Central de la República Argentina, BCRA) is the central bank of Argentina, being an autarchic entity. Article 3 of the Organic Charter lists the objectives of this Institution: “The bank ...

between 2008 and early 2010, after being designated as Chief Economist between 2005 and 2008 He returned to the private sector by founding his consulting firm Empiria Consultores Economía y Finanza. In December 2013, he assumed the position of General Manager of the

Bank of the City of Buenos Aires The Bank of the City of Buenos Aires (''Banco Ciudad de Buenos Aires''), doing business as Banco Ciudad, is a publicly owned, municipal commercial bank in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was founded on May 23, 1878, under the name Monte de Piedad (P ...

during the government of

in the city.

Minister of Economy of the Province of Buenos Aires

On December 10, 2015, Lacunza assumed as Minister of Economy of the Province of Buenos Aires (the largest province of Argentina that houses 17 million inhabitants, almost 40% of the Argentine population) under the government of

María Eugenia Vidal María Eugenia Vidal (born 8 September 1973) is an Argentine politician who served as Governor of the Buenos Aires Province, being the first woman in the office, and the first non- Peronist since 1987. A member of Republican Proposal (PRO), she ...

. The province was broken due to the strong

fiscal deficit The government budget balance, also alternatively referred to as general government balance, public budget balance, or public fiscal balance, is the overall difference between government revenues and spending. A positive balance is called a ''g ...

, high

taxes A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or ...

and no

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...

. During his period al Minister the Province recovered by law the so-called Fondo del Conurbano, in compensation of an historical discrimination in the federal tax co-participation regime (the share of Buenos Aires grew from 18% to 22% of federal tax revenues), the tax pressure and the most distortive taxes to production activity (''ingresos brutos'') were reduced, and the share of public works on provincial budget grew from 3,7% to more than 5% on average. At the same time, in spite of a sharp fall in activity level because of macroeconomic problems since 2018, the financial fiscal deficit was reduced from 1.1% to 0.6% of GDP, as well as the Province recovered the primary surplus since 2017 until now.

Minister of Treasury of Argentina

On August 17, 2019, in a context of high economic and political uncertainty after the government had been defeated at

primary elections Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

, Lacunza assumed the position of Minister of Treasury of Argentina. On August 28, he announced the extension of short-term debt maturities (Letes and Lebacs), sending to congress a bill promoting voluntary debt swap under local law, initiating a

foreign debt A country's gross external debt (or foreign debt) is the liabilities that are owed to nonresidents by residents. The debtors can be governments, corporations or citizens. External debt may be denominated in domestic or foreign currency. It incl ...

swap process, and re-signing maturities with 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 ...

. In all cases these are term extensions, without capital or interest. On 1 September by decree, he arranged

currency controls Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currency, currencies by residents, on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents, or the transfers of any currency across na ...

: a limit of $10,000 per month for the purchase of dollars, the obligation for transnational companies to seek authorization from the

Central Bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

to spin dividends to their parent companies abroad, and a maximum time limit for exporters to settle the currencies generated in their operations. He said that they were awkward and transitional measures to avoid major ills because the economy faced a " crisis of confidence". After the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, it increased

: allowing only the purchase of dollar $200 per month.

Other activities

* Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, Member (2019) *

Central American Bank for Economic Integration The Central American Bank for Economic Integration - CABEI ( BCIE in Spanish) was founded in 1960. It is an international multilateral development financial institution. Its resources are invested in projects that foster development to reduce pov ...

(CABEI), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019) *

Inter-American Investment Corporation The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an International financial institutions, international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development finan ...

(IIC), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019) *

(IMF), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019) *

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 ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019) *

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is an international financial institution which offers political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees. These guarantees help investors protect foreign direct investments against ...

(MIGA),

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2019)Board of Governors

(MIGA),

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacunza, Hernán 1970 births Living people Argentine economists Argentine Ministers of Finance Republican Proposal politicians