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Alfonso Prat-Gay

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Alfonso Prat-Gay
Minister of the Treasury and Public Finances of Argentina
In office
10 December 2015 – 2 January 2017
PresidentMauricio Macri
Preceded byAxel Kicillof
Succeeded byLuis Caputo (Finance)
Nicolás Dujovne (Treasury)
President of the Central Bank
In office
11 December 2002 – 24 September 2004
Preceded byAldo Pignanelli
Succeeded byMartín Redrado
National Deputy
In office
10 December 2009 – 10 December 2013
ConstituencyCity of Buenos Aires
Personal details
Born (1965-11-24) 24 November 1965 (age 58)
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Political partyCivic Coalition ARI (2009-2013)
Radical Civic Union (2015–present)
Other political
affiliations		Cambiemos (2015–present)
Broad Front UNEN (2013)
Social and Civic Agreement (2009–2013)
Alma materPontifical Catholic University of Argentina
University of Pennsylvania
Signature

Alfonso Prat-Gay (born 24 November 1965) is an Argentine economist and politician. Following the election of Mauricio Macri to the presidency on 2015, he became Minister of Economy.[1]

He was also President of the Central Bank of Argentina from December 2002 to September 2004, and was elected National Deputy for the Civic Coalition in the 2009 elections.

A decade later, as Minister of Economy in the Macri administration, he lifted 4-year-old capital controls on the Argentine currency, a mere 6 days after taking office.[2]

His work earned him Euromoney's Central Bank Governor of the Year award.[3] Prat-Gay is also a member of Washington D.C. based think tank, The Inter-American Dialogue.[4]

He is considered an orthodox liberal who has a good image in the markets and fluent contacts abroad.[5] However, Prat-Gay has been a political ally to leftist Victoria Donda and some economists like Javier Milei consider him to be a socialist or a socialdemocrat.

Career

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Prat-Gay was born in Buenos Aires in 1965, the son of Jorge Prat-Gay. He earned a degree in economics from the Universidad Católica Argentina in 1989, and obtained his master's degree in 1994 at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a PhD candidate.[6]

Finances

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In 1994, Prat-Gay joined JP Morgan in New York City and went on to work for the bank in its Buenos Aires and London branches until 2001. He co-founded APL Economía, an economic consulting firm.

Prat-Gay is Chairman of Tilton Capital, an asset management company he co-founded in 2005 with Pedro Lacoste.[7] He is president of Fundación Andares para el desarrollo de las Microfinanzas ("Andares Foundation for the Development of Microfinances").[8] His clients at Tilton Capital included the late María Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, former chairperson of Argentina's largest concrete manufacturer, Loma Negra. Prat-Gay's work for Mrs. Fortabat came under scrutiny after revelations that Tilton Capital facilitated tax evasion and capital flight for Fortabat and other clients, including the entirety of Mrs. Fortabat's billion-dollar payout for her sale of Loma Negra in 2005.[7] The vice president of JP Morgan Argentina at the time, Hernán Arbizu, declared that Prat-Gay managed much of this wealth in an offshore hedge fund of his creation with put options against the Argentine peso.[9] He was appointed executor of the Lacroze de Fortabat estate following Mrs. Fortabat's death in 2012.[7]

Politics

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In December 2002, Prat-Gay was named President of the Central Bank of Argentina, at only 37 years of age, and served until September 24, 2004.[10] He won the 2004 Euromoney Central Bank Governor of the Year award for his work for having reduced the inflation from 40% to 5% while maintaining an economic growth of 8%.[11] He completed his term and rejected President Néstor Kirchner's offer to renew his position for another six-year term, due to disagreements with the president on the independence of the Central Bank, anti-inflationary policies, and on negotiations on defaulted bonds.[12]

He joined the Civic Coalition, led at the time by Elisa Carrió, and was named as Carrió's choice for Minister of the Economy had she won the 2007 presidential election.[6]

Prat-Gay led the Civic Coalition's party list for the city of Buenos Aires in the 2009 congressional elections, and was handily elected.[13] As a Congressman, he worked on projects such as increasing banking security, preventing money laundering and drug trafficking, and an extensive deregulation of the Argentine financial system. He was a main voice of the opposition in Congress on economic issues. He was named head of the Civic Coalition caucus in the Lower House following Elisa Carrió's poor showing in the 2011 presidential election.

Prat-Gay co-founded the Juntos UNEN ('Together They Unite') alliance with centrist UCR Congressional caucus leader Ricardo Gil Lavedra, and Victoria Donda of the leftist Freemen of the South Movement in January 2013. He declared his candidacy in July for a seat in the Argentine Senate ahead of the 2013 mid-term elections.[14]

Minister of Treasury and Finances

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Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay takes part in meetings with the IMF and the World Bank, shortly after the end of the Argentine default.

Prat-Gay was appointed Minister of Treasury and Public Finance in December 2015, by the new President Mauricio Macri.[15]

One of the first changes to economic policy from the Macri administration, just seven days after he had taken office, was to remove the currency controls that had been in place for four consecutive years. The move signified a 30% devaluation of the peso, and was met with both criticism and praise.[16][17][18][19][20]

Prat Gay eliminated export taxes on wheat, corn, meat and fishing, the industry and mining, while it promised to lower the tariff on soy 5% every year.[21][22][23]

For the next year, he eliminated the Advance Affidavits of Importation (an import control program) and extended Careful Pricing (a price control program) for six months.[24][25]

Since 2016, began the removal of energy subsidies (for electricity, gas and water) and transport subsidies (for bus, train and subway), which caused a huge increase in prices. He avoided to use a shock therapy and introduced the changes gradually.[26][27][28]

On January 19, Prat Gay and Macri went to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with Sergio Massa and part of his cabinet looking for investments. He had meetings with various business representatives, politicians and journalists. Some of them were US Vice President Joe Biden, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, the founder of Virgin Group Richard Branson, CEO of Google Eric Schmidt, the Queen of the Netherlands, President and CEO Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent among others.[29] It was the first time that Argentina participates since 2003. The last president was Eduardo Duhalde.[30]

He successfully ended the sovereign default declared in 2001. Prat Gay returned Argentina to the internacional capital markets and helped to restore international relations.[31][32]

"Argentina is back, and I hope you enjoy it."

Minister Prat Gay at the Atlantic Council, Washington, D.C., U.S., on April 14, 2016.[33]

Political intervention in the INDEC figures ended, and the IMF declared in November 2016 that Argentine statistics were again in accordance with international standards.[34]

Among the most notorious vulnerabilities of the administration was an extremely high inflation rate: it was 40% in 2016 (while the Central Bank expected an inflation rate of 17% for 2017, 10% for 2018 and 5% for 2019).[35]

He had conflicting views of the economy with Federico Sturzenegger, president of the Central Bank of Argentina.

By demand of president Macri, he resigned on December 26, 2016, and was succeeded by Nicolás Dujovne.[36][37][38]

References

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  1. ^ "Finance chief Prat-Gay asked to rework his magic". Financial Times. 29 November 2015.
  2. ^ "Argentina lifts controls on the peso". The Economist. 17 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Prat-Gay, banquero del año". La Nación.
  4. ^ "Inter-American Dialogue | Alfonso Prat-Gay". www.thedialogue.org. Retrieved 2017-04-19.
  5. ^ "Prat-Gay, un liberal ortodoxo, es el nuevo titular del Banco Central". La Nación. 10 December 2002.
  6. ^ a b "Alfonso de Prat-Gay: "La teoría del derrame no funcionó ni en los 90 ni ahora"". La Nación. 22 April 2007.
  7. ^ a b c "Los oscuros negocios de Prat-Gay con el millonario patrimonio de Amalita". Tiempo Argentino. April 14, 2012. Archived from the original on 2014-04-09. Retrieved 2013-07-24.
  8. ^ "IADB: Alfonso Prat-Gay" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2010-01-08.
  9. ^ "Arbizu denunció negocios de Prat Gay con Fortabat". InfoNews. July 12, 2013.
  10. ^ "Argentina names new bank chief". BBC News. 10 December 2002.
  11. ^ "Central Bank Governor of the Year 2004: Argentina ditches its respected central bank governor on eve of crucial bond exchange". Euromoney. September 2004.
  12. ^ Javier Blanco (September 18, 2004). "Desplazan a Prat-Gay del BCRA y lo sucede Redrado" [Prat-Gay is removed from the BCRA, replaced by Redrado]. La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  13. ^ Prat-Gay encabezará la lista de la CC en Capital, Página/12, 26 March 2009.
  14. ^ "Prat Gay, Gil Lavedra, Donda y Tumini lanzaron su lista porteña". Clarín. July 2, 2013.
  15. ^ "Marcos Peña anunció el Gabinete de Mauricio Macri: Prat Gay va a Hacienda y Patricia Bullrich a Seguridad". La Nación. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  16. ^ "Argentina libera el control de capitales". EL PAÍS (in Spanish). 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  17. ^ "Argentina lifts currency controls, floats peso in bid to boost economy". the Guardian. 17 December 2015. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  18. ^ Politi, Daniel (16 December 2015). "President Mauricio Macri lifts Argentina's capital controls". Financial Times.
  19. ^ "Argentina to relax foreign exchange controls". BBC. 17 December 2015. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  20. ^ "El final del cepo: a partir de hoy se podrán comprar y vender dólares libremente". Clarin.com. Archived from the original on 2015-12-19. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  21. ^ "Confirmado: Macri anunció retenciones cero, salvo para la soja". La Nación. 2015-12-14.
  22. ^ "Mauricio Macri anunció la eliminación de las retenciones a la exportación industrial". La Nación. 2015-12-14.
  23. ^ "Junto a gobernadores del PJ, Macri anunció el fin de las retenciones mineras". La Nación. 2016-02-13.
  24. ^ "El Gobierno anunció que a fin de año se acaban las DJAI". La Nación. 2015-12-15.
  25. ^ "Francisco Cabrera: "Habrá continuidad para Precios Cuidados y Ahora 12"". La Nación. 2016-03-15.
  26. ^ "Argentina's economy: a battle over utility bills is president Macri's first big crisis". Merco Press. 15 August 2016. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  27. ^ "Guillermo Dietrich anunció una fuerte suba en las tarifas de colectivos, trenes y subte". La Nación. 2016-03-31.
  28. ^ "Argentina's gamble on economic gradualism is working, so far". The Economist. January 18, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  29. ^ "La agenda de Mauricio Macri en Davos". La Nacion. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  30. ^ "Macri confirma viaje a Davos para primera participación argentina en 12 años". Terra. 18 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  31. ^ "US court ruling allows Argentina bond sale to proceed". Financial Times. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  32. ^ Bob Van Voris (13 April 2016). "Argentina Wins Court Ruling Letting Bond Sale Proceed". Bloomberg.
  33. ^ "A Conversation with the Minister of Finance of Argentina Alfonso Prat-Gay".
  34. ^ García, Raquel (10 November 2016). "IMF Deems Argentina's Statistics Credible Again". Panam Post. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  35. ^ Macri's election success is no cure-all for Argentina's structural issues Archived 2017-12-15 at the Wayback Machine November 17, 2017, Euromoney
  36. ^ "New ministers Caputo and Dujovne to take over next week".
  37. ^ "Alfonso Prat-Gay se fue del Ministerio de Hacienda" [Alfonso Prat-Gay left the ministry of finance]. La Nación (in Spanish). December 26, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
  38. ^ Ríos, Horacio (26 December 2016). "Quién es Nicolás Dujovne, el nuevo ministro de Hacienda". Noticias Urbanas (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 December 2016.
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Civic offices
Preceded by President of the Central Bank
2002–2004 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of the Economy
2015–2016 		Succeeded byas Minister of Finance
Succeeded byas Minister of the Treasury
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