July 03,2022:Argentina’s Economy Minister Martin Guzman, the architect of a recent debt deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has resigned.
Guzman’s announcement on Saturday came amid deep splits in the ruling coalition about how to handle Argentina’s mounting economic crisis.
A minister since late 2019 and close ally of President Alberto Fernandez, the 39-year-old Guzman did not say why he resigned.
But in a seven-page letter posted on Twitter, he suggested the internal battles were at least part of his reason for leaving, calling on Fernandez to mend the divisions so that the “next minister does not suffer” the same difficulties he did.
Guzman, who had clashed with Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, a powerful two-term former president, said he maintained “confidence in my vision of the path Argentina should follow”.
The former minister was the driving force in sealing a new $44bn deal with the IMF earlier this year to replace a failed programme from 2018.
But legislators allied with the vice president, who has called for greater spending to alleviate poverty levels, voted against the agreement with the IMF and the deal only passed Congress thanks to support from the centre-right opposition.
