Argentina 2019
Former Central Bank President Redrado advises Alberto on economic matters
Martin Redrado, a liberal economist, brings the Peronist presidential candidato papers and they have a daily dialogue. Whose names could occupy the most important positions in Fernández eventual economic cabinet?

 Martín Redrado has begun to advise Alberto Fernández daily, sending him papers and texting with him every day. The former president of the Central Bank of Argentina is an expert in monetary affairs, which with the renewed crisis of the dollar have become matters of pressing importance for the campaign. But Redrado is also focused on analyzing strategies to face the debt crisis that awaits Argentina, whoever wins in October.

Redrado had a bad falling-out with the Kirchner administration, after a weeks-long fight with Former President Néstor Kirchner, accusing him of trying to empty the Central Bank reserves. Ever since then, he's remained close to Sergio Massa, and his return to the front line of the power of Peronism is another reinstatement that facilitated the decision of Cristina Kirchner to relinquish the presidential candidacy to Alberto Fernández.

Redrado has known Alberto Fernández since the 90s when both were members of President Carlos Menem's government. Rounded in the National Securities Commission (CNV) and Fernández in the National Insurance Superintendence.

Respected among the markets and the leadership of Peronism, this economist is part of the "liberal" wing of the different groups of economists currently being assembled by the presidential candidate of Todos, a move which outlines a more orthodox team for fiscal matters and a more heterodox wing for "productive" issues.

In this latter group, a standout is Matías Kulfas, who was formerly in charge of dialogue with the media throughout the campaign trail. In these dialogues, like the one he had with LPO, he always showed a measured profile, whilst emphasizing the commitment to pay the debt, but always focused on the defense of SMEs and industry.

That is why many sources point him as a possible head for the Ministry of Production, given his vast experience in industrial policy and his proximity to SMEs (he was undersecretary of small and medium business between 2006 and 2007). Therefore, Kulfas advocates a quite different approach to industrial development in contrast to the one promoted by Kirchnerism, which turned most of the resources to the automotive industry and the Tierra del Fuego regime. This could strengthen sectors such as nanotechnology and pharmaceuticals, which he considers key for an increase in exports.

Alberto's core of confidence in economic matters is rounded off by Cecilia Todesca, the daughter of the current head of Indec Jorge Todesca, who could be offered to remain in office to give a strong signal to the statistical questions during the last Peronist government.

Like Kulfas, Cecilia was also highly placed in the Central Bank at the time of Marcó del Pont and maintains a view that differs from "the Kicillof line". A source close to the Callao Group told LPO that the economist is working on two fundamental pillars of the albertista program: how to solve the "Leliqs bomb" and how to increase a dollar influx both via export and via direct foreign investment. "She is super ambitious and is from Alberto's in-crowd, without a doubt she'll have a plum position," the source places her, possibly, in Internal Commerce.

With a higher profile, figures such as Guillermo Nielsen and Emanuel Álvarez Agis seem to compete for the highest ministerial portfolio. The former secretary of Finance who renegotiated the debt with Néstor Kirchner is very well-regarded by the markets and in these moments of great uncertainty his possibilities increase. He's also known as the most liberal economist within Peronist ranks, which has caused an uproar in quarters closest to Cristina herself.

However, in the PJ they say that Nielsen has the maximum confidence of both Alberto and the former president and it is a given that he will occupy an "A-List" position. If it is not Economy - where he dreams of facing a strategic plan for Vaca Muerta-, it could be the Central Bank or the Foreign Ministry, where he could try to emulate Cavallo's 1990s trajectory, when he entered the Menem government through the same door and then established himself in Economics.

As for Agis, his great media presence and his approach to the financial world in recent years has put him in the spotlight.

Nonetheless, there are a couple of problems: his historic rivalry with Kulfas and the fact that he is not well regarded by Nielsen, either. "These issues stem from the time when Kulfas was in the Sepyme, and also was part of the young Nestorists. There, the entire economic sector of the UBA kept criticizing the government on the left. When Nestor passed away, t the old guard shifted and they ended up being more Christian than Cristina", explained a key player in the story.

The rumored candidates to occupy second-tier positions are Fernando Peirano, -linked to technology and innovation-, Arnaldo Bocco - a Felipe Solá protegé-, Alejandro Vanoli -former head of the Central Bank under Cristina- and Martín Guzmán, a debt renegotiation specialist who works with Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and could be placed as an Argentine representative at the IMF.

And, finally, several "political" cadres have emerged that, although lacking a proper economics profile, could occupy important positions in the matter. There is the mayor of San Martín, Gabriel Katopodis, as a possible head of Production and a representative of the governors to lead the Ministry of Public Works.

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