Nicolás Dujovne (; born May 18, 1967) is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

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 ...

and former Minister of the Treasury between 2017 and 2019 under the administration of

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

Biography

The Dujovne family, of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

origin, has been present in Argentina since the early 20th century. His great-grandfather, Isaac Dujovne, emigrated to Argentina in 1899 from Kurilovich, a village near the city of

Mohyliv-Podilskyi Mohyliv-Podilskyi (, ) is a city in Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Mohyliv-Podilskyi Raion within the oblast. It is located in the historic region of Podolia, on the border with Bessarabia, Moldova, along th ...

, which at the time was part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

.The family settled in the Basavilbaso Colony, in the

province of Entre Ríos A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provin ...

,a town that welcomed many Jewish settlers as part of the

Jewish Colonization Association The Jewish Colonisation Association (JCA or ICA; ) was an organisation created on September 11, 1891, by Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Its aim was to facilitate the mass emigration of Jews from Russia and other Eastern European countries, by settling ...

(JCA) project, founded by Baron

Maurice de Hirsch Moritz Freiherr von Hirsch auf Gereuth (; ; 9 December 1831 – 21 April 1896), commonly known as Maurice de Hirsch, was a German Jewish financier and philanthropist who set up charitable foundations to promote Jewish education and improve the ...

. Among Isaac’s children, two stand out: the philosopher León Dujovne (great-uncle of Nicolás)and the engineer Israel Dujovne (his grandfather). Israel worked in construction and founded his own firm in Buenos Aires in 1930.Berardo Dujovne, son of Israel and father of Nicolás, is a prominent architect and former dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

, where he also served as vice-rector.Since 1964, Berardo has led the Dujovne-Hirsch studio alongside his wife, architect Silvia Hirsch, mother of Nicolás. Nicolás Dujovne was born in Buenos Aires in 1967.He was raised in the city of Vicente López and completed his primary education at Nueva Escuela Argentina 2000.He completed his secondary education at the Colegio Nacional y Comercial de Vicente López.During his teenage years, he developed an interest in

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

. In 1987, he took photographs for the band

Los Pericos Los Pericos is an Argentine band formed in 1987. The band has enjoyed international success, especially throughout South America. In 2006, the band received some notable exposure for North American audiences when featured on an episode of Anthon ...

, thanks to his friendship with the keyboardist Martín Gutman. He is married to Carolina Yellati, with whom he has three children. They live in the Bajo Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires.He is a fan of River Plate.

Education

He studied at the Faculty of Economic Sciences of the

, where he graduated with a degree in Economics in 1990. He pursued postgraduate studies at the Di Tella Institute and later worked as a professor of “Banking Management Topics” in the Master’s program in Finance at the

Torcuato di Tella University The Torcuato Di Tella University () is a non-profit private university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Founded in 1991, the university focused primarily on social sciences. The undergraduate majors available are economics, business economics, digital ...

Professional Activity

Between 1991 and 1992, he worked as an economist at

Citibank Argentina Citibank Argentina is a commercial bank and financial services company and a subsidiary of Citigroup. It currently provides institutional services. In 2016, its retail operations were sold to Banco Santander Río. Overview Citibank Argentina wa ...

, where he began his professional career in the financial sector. From 1993 to 1994, he worked as a senior economist at the firm Alpha. Later, between 1994 and 1997, he held the same position at the consulting firm Macroeconómica S.A. Between 2001 and 2011, he was the chief economist at Banco Galicia. In 2011, he founded his own consultancy, Dujovne y Asociados, which he led until 2016. He has also worked as a consultant for the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

. Dujovne gained prominence in the media as a columnist for the newspaper

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

starting in 2011,and from 2015, as a co-host alongside journalist Carlos Pagni on the television program ''Odisea Argentina'', broadcast on the

Todo Noticias TN (formerly known as ''Todo Noticias'' () is an Argentine Pay television, pay and Streaming television, streaming List of news television channels, news television channel owned by the Clarín Group and its subsidiary, Artear. The channel bega ...

channel. Between April and December 2016, he served as an Independent Board Director at

Banco Patagonia Banco Patagonia is an Argentine commercial bank headquartered in Buenos Aires, and has 200 service points located in the main cities and capitals of the provinces of Argentina. The company operates in the individual, as well as small and medium- ...

Political Activity

Although he has never held party membership,he maintained a long-standing relationship with the

Radical Civic Union The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...

(UCR).During his secondary school years, he briefly participated in the youth wing of the

Intransigent Party The Intransigent Party () is a leftist political party in Argentina, founded in 1972 by Oscar Alende. Its membership came from the Intransigent Radical Civic Union, one of the two factions of the Radical Civic Union. History The party was for ...

. Between 1997 and 1998, during the presidency of

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...

, he served as chief advisor to the Deputy Minister of Economy, Pablo Guidotti.During

Fernando de la Rúa Fernando de la Rúa (15 September 19379 July 2019) served as the President of Argentina from 1999 until his resignation in 2001. A member of the Radical Civic Union, he previously served as national senator for Buenos Aires across non-consecuti ...

’s presidency, he served as the Ministry of Economy’s representative on the Board of Directors of the

Central Bank of Argentina The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (, 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 aims to promote, to the extent of its powers ...

and was a member of the board of

Papel Prensa Papel Prensa S.A. is an Argentine manufacturing company, being the largest producer of newsprint in the country. The company furnishes 58% of the local market in the staple. The public–private partnership became the focus of one of a series of c ...

, representing the National Government. In 2011, he was economic advisor for the presidential campaign of Ricardo Alfonsín, the son of former President

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (; 12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after the 7-yea ...

.Between 2012 and 2016, he served as an advisor to Radical senator Luis Naidenoff. Close to

, Dujovne has been coordinator of the economic cabinet of his government, along with Mario Quintana, working in the technical teams of the ''Pensar Foundation'', and contributing during his presidential campaign on fiscal issues. On December 26, 2016, after the dismissal of Alfonso Prat-Gay by President Macri, the splitting into two of the Ministry of Finance and Public Finance was announced, with Dujovne being appointed Minister of Finance from January 2017. Prior to assuming office, he resigned from the Senate and closed his consultancy.

Minister of the Treasury

Dujovne faced a deep fiscal adjustment promoted by Macri and deepened by the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

. In 2017, he faced the

tax reform Tax reform is the process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government and is usually undertaken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits. Tax reform can include reducing the level of taxati ...

, which he managed to pass in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

after some conflicts with industrial sectors due to internal tax increases or rebalancing of employer contributions. The fiscal pressure ended in 2019 almost two points less than in 2015. He signed a pact with the provinces to fiscally order their accounts and begin to lower the gross income and the stamp tax. Once the elections were won, a new index was launched to update inflation with the intention of lowering the deficit further. Its first year ended with a 2.9% increase in

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

, after a 2016 dulled by high

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...

and the fall of the economy. That performance was key for the Macri government to win the midterm legislative elections and revalidate its power. After the

crisis A crisis (: crises; : critical) is any event or period that will lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when ...

that began in April 2018, the year that ended with

stagflation Stagflation is the combination of high inflation, stagnant economic growth, and elevated unemployment. The term ''stagflation'', a portmanteau of "stagnation" and "inflation," was popularized, and probably coined, by British politician Iain Mac ...

, everything changed. Dujovne looked for ways to restore confidence by taking fiscal balance as an anchor, but nothing worked until the arrival of the International Monetary Fund, an idea attributed to

Luis Caputo Luis Andrés "Toto" Caputo (born 21 April 1965) is an Argentine economist who is the current Minister of Economy under Javier Milei's presidency, having assumed office on 10 December 2023. He previously served as Minister of Public Finances fr ...

. The reestablishment of withholdings in mid-July was a serious blow to the economic team, which maintained that the improvement in the fiscal balance should be due to a drop in spending (something that it eventually achieved) and not due to the rise in income (which it ended up promoting). He then sealed a 2019 Budget with the opposition. That budget impaired some improvements in the tax reform. Key to this leap was the strong link with Washington, particularly with

Steven Mnuchin Steven Terner Mnuchin ( ; born December 21, 1962) is an American investment banker and film producer who served as the 77th United States secretary of the treasury as part of the first cabinet of Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021. Serving for nearl ...

, US Secretary of the Treasury and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's man of confidence, with the IMF's technical teams and with the 2018 G20 Ministers of Economy (Dujovne acted as coordinator, when Argentina was the first host country). After the Stand-By Agreement, Caputo broke the rules that the IMF imposed to intervene in the exchange market and had to resign. The BCRA was left in the hands of Guido Sandleris, former deputy finance minister. It was a rise in power for Dujovne within Macri's economic team. After achieving a historic agreement (due to the significant disbursement), an expansion of it and an acceleration of disbursements, the Government did not manage to provoke sustainable tranquility in the financial and exchange markets, until April 2019, when the IMF finally freed its hands to the BCRA to intervene if the dollar soared. After his resignation in August 2019, he said that: "he contributed to the construction of a different country, modern, integrated into the world, plural and with the necessary macroeconomic balances for

sustainable development Sustainable development is an approach to growth and Human development (economics), human development that aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.United Nations General ...

"; and noted the achievements in reducing the

fiscal deficit The government budget balance, also referred to as the general government balance, public budget balance, or public fiscal balance, is the difference between government revenues and spending. For a government that uses accrual accounting ( ...

and

public spending Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual o ...

and in reducing distorting taxes in the provinces.

Other activities

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 (2016-2019) * Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016-2019) *

(IMF), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016-2019) * Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, Member (2018) *

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016-2019) *

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 Group ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2016-2019)

Current Activities

In 2020, Dujovne co-founded Tenac Global Fund alongside economists José Antonio González Anaya, former Finance Minister of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and Fernando Jasnis, former Undersecretary of Administration and Asset Normalization of Argentina.In 2022, Pablo Guidotti, former Secretary of the Treasury of Argentina in the 1990s, joined the team.

Publications

Argentina's economy: Balancing growth and stability
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', 2018. * Seeking international capital, ''El Inversor Energético y Minero'', February 2017, 11(111), p. 4. CDIArgentina Portal. (In Spanish) * Argentina and its sovereign spread: looking beyond the turbulence, ''Indicadores de Coyuntura'', November 2007, (482), pp. 6–10. CDI Portal. (In Spanish)
OED review of Bank assistance for financial sector reform
''World Bank'', February 2003. Co-authored with M. Kiguel.
Restructuring Argentina's public debt: Realities and challenges for economic policy
in ''The renegotiation of external debt'', National Academy of Economic Sciences, Buenos Aires, 2003, pp. 22–62. Co-authored with P. Guidotti. (In Spanish)
The restructuring of debt after the disorderly default
Torcuato Di Tella University, October 2002. Co-authored with P. Guidotti. (In Spanish)
A fiscal rule for Argentina: Considerations and proposals
Banco Galicia and School of Government,

, July 2002. Co-authored with P. Guidotti. (In Spanish)
Banking system crisis or macroeconomic crisis?
in M. Cohen & M. Gurman (Eds.), ''Argentina in Collapse?'', IIED-Latin America, Buenos Aires, 2002, pp. 51–58. (In Spanish) * Evaluating growth in Argentina, Buenos Aires: s.n., March 2001. CDI Portal. (In Spanish)
The Argentine financial system and its prudential regulation
in FIEL (Ed.), ''Growth and equity in Argentina: Foundations of economic policy for the decade'', October 2001, pp. 131–211. Co-authored with P. Guidotti. (In Spanish)
Slovenia and the process of accession to the European Union
''World Bank'', June 2000. Co-authored with P. Guidotti. (In Spanish) * Credit in Argentina: Factors of overcost, Argentine Banks Association (ADEBA), 1997. Co-authored with M. Vicens and R. Onofri. (In Spanish) * Illiquidity and insolvency in the Argentine financial system, ''World Bank'', February 1995. Co-authored with M. Vicens. (In Spanish)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dujovne, Nicolas 1967 births Living people Jewish economists Argentine economists Ministers of economy of Argentina Argentine people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Jewish Argentine politicians University of Buenos Aires alumni Torcuato di Tella University alumni Academic staff of the University of Buenos Aires Macri administration cabinet members