Isaac Alfie Stochek (born 27 April 1962) 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, accountant and politician of the Colorado Party, serving as head of 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 ...

since 1 March 2020. He previously served as Minister of Economy and Finance during the final years of

Jorge Batlle Jorge Luis Batlle Ibáñez (; ''Batlle'' locally or ; 25 October 1927 – 24 October 2016) was a Uruguayan politician and lawyer, and a member of the Colorado Party. He served as the President of Uruguay from 2000 to 2005. Dr. Jorge Batlle ...

's presidential term (2003-2005).

Early life

Isaac Alfie Stochek was born in the ''

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

into a Jewish family. His father was a public employee and her mother a commercial employee. His paternal family was militant of the Colorado Party, while the maternal one was originally of the

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Emilio Frugoni Emilio Frugoni Queirolo (March 30, 1880 – August 28, 1969) was a Uruguayan socialist politician, lawyer, poet, essayist, and journalist. He founded the Socialist Party of Uruguay (PS) in 1910 and was its first general secretary, as well as its f ...

Career

Alfie 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 ...

in 1984 with a degree in

public accounting An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

and years later, he obtained a 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 same college. In 1986 he joined the

with the position of junior economist in the Department of Social Policies. In 1991 he joined the Ministry of Economy and Finance as an adviser in the area of Macroeconomic Advisory. He also represented Uruguay in several negotiations with international organizations, such as the one that resulted in the rescheduling of Uruguayan public debt in 2003. In addition, he was a consultant for the

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 ...

, 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 ...

, the

Pan American Health Organization The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is an international public health agency working to improve the health and living standards of the people of the Americas. It is part of the United Nations system, serving as the Regional Office for ...

, and the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

. In the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The ...

, he was a

business consultant A business consultant (from Latin ''consultare'', "to discuss") is a professional who provides professional or expert advice or service in a particular area such as security (electronic or physical), management, accountancy, law, human resources, ma ...

, especially in the areas of financial and cost

analysis Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

, and study of investment projects. He also served as

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

of the Department of Economics of the

, where he taught basic

macroeconomics Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...

. He also worked as a teacher at the University ORT Uruguay, and at the

University of Belgrano The University of Belgrano ( es, Universidad de Belgrano, commonly referred to as UB) is a private university established in 1964 and located in the Belgrano district of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Overview The university has nine de ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. He is currently a professor of Economics and public finance at 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 ...

Political career

In August 2003, following the resignation of

Alejandro Atchugarry Alejandro Víctor Washington Atchugarry Bonomi (31 July 1952 in Montevideo – 19 February 2017 in Montevideo) was a Uruguayan lawyer and politician. He was Minister of Economics and Finance during the most difficult period in Jorge Batlle ...

, President

appointed Alfie Minister of Economy and Finance. His period as head of the portfolio ended on March 1, 2005, when he was succeeded by

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, ...

. He also served as

Senator of the Republic A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

for List 15 of the Colorado Party in the XLVI Legislature (2005−10). In the 2019 presidential primaries, he supported the pre-candidacy of former President

Julio María Sanguinetti Julio María Sanguinetti Coirolo (; born 6 January 1936 in Montevideo, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan politician, lawyer and journalist, who twice served as President of Uruguay (from March 1985 until March 1990, and again, from March 1995 until March ...

. On December 16, when President-elect

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 ...

announced his cabinet, Alfie was appointed Director of the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP) as a member of the

Coalición Multicolor The Multicolor Coalition is a big tent political coalition formed for the ballotage in Uruguay in 2019. It is led by the Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou and is composed of the centre-right National Party (PN), the centrist Colorado Par ...

Other activities

In the elections for the Board of Directors of

Club Atlético Peñarol Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Club (magazine), ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands a ...

held in November 2008, Isaac Alfie accompanied the opposition list No. 2809, led by Daniel Benech, whose motto was "Peñarol is the people." This list would be in second place in number of votes, after the officialismo, headed by

Juan Pedro Damiani Juan Pedro Damiani (born June 14, 1958) is a Uruguayan lawyer, and a former member of the FIFA Ethics Committee. Damiani resigned from the FIFA Ethics Committee on 6 April 2016, following allegation in the Panama Papers, connecting him to fel ...

. Alfie writes in the economics supplement of the

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfie, Isaac 1962 births University of the Republic (Uruguay) alumni Uruguayan economists Jewish Uruguayan politicians Colorado Party (Uruguay) politicians Ministers of Economics and Finance of Uruguay Academic staff of Universidad ORT Uruguay Academic staff of the University of Montevideo Living people