Ministries cut in austerity package
Halving the number of ministries in President Mauricio Macri’s Cabinet and new export duties figured prominently in an austerity package announced last Monday to eliminate the fiscal deficit next year and ease renewed negotiations with the IMF.
Macri downsized his Cabinet from 19 to 10 portfolios – Nicolás Dujovne (Economy, previously Treasury), Rogelio Frigerio (Interior), Carolina Stanley (Social Development now absorbing Health), Dante Sica (Production, now absorbing Agriculture and Labour), Patricia Bullrich (Security), Guillermo Dietrich (Transport), Germán Garavano (Justice), Jorge Faurie (Foreign), Alejandro Finocchiaro (Education, now absorbing Culture and Science & Technology) and Oscar Aguad (Defence) all survive as ministers.
Of the ex-ministers, Andrés Ibarra (Modernisation) is now Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña’s deputy while Pablo Avelluto (Culture), Lino Barañao (Science and Technology), Sergio Bergman (Environment), Luis Miguel Etchevehere (Agriculture), Javier Iguacel (Energy), Hernán Lombardi (Public Media), Adolfo Rubinstein (Health), Gustavo Santos (Tourism) and Jorge Triaca (Labour) are all staying on as secretaries, at least for now. But Ibarra displaces Mario Quintana and Gustavo Lopetegui, who previously seconded Peña.
Meanwhile, the new export duty differs from its forerunners by not being a percentage but a fixed sum of three pesos per dollar earned abroad and four pesos in the case of primary products.