Argentina has appointed a relatively unknown former provincial official as its new economy minister, after the abrupt departure of predecessor Martin Guzmán who negotiated a $44bn debt restructuring deal with the IMF.
Silvina Batakis, 53, was set to take over on Monday a day after Guzmán, a close ally of President Alberto Fernández, became the most senior of four Argentine cabinet members to step down in recent months amid a split in the ruling coalition government.
Deep divisions within Argentina’s leftwing ruling coalition have pitched the country’s powerful vice-president and former leader, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, against the president, just as problems in the Argentine economy worsen.
Financial analysts said the appointment of Batakis, a former finance minister of Buenos Aires province who most recently worked at the interior ministry, would do little to calm the negative sentiment in the markets, given her…
