Federico Sturzenegger, the advisor who designs Javier Milei's economic "shock"

His name appeared in all the pools prior to the formation of the Government of President Javier Milei in Argentina and, although he did not finally obtain a seat in his ministerial cabinet, the economist Federico Sturzenegger is one of the libertarian's main advisors and plays a fundamental role in the design of their economic “shock” plans.

Born in the Santa Fe town of Rufino in 1966, Sturzenegger studied Economics at the National University of La Plata and continued specializing until the mid-nineties when he became chief economist of the Argentine oil company YPF.

His entry into politics did not take long.. Sturzenegger held the position of Secretary of Economic Policy in March 2001, during the Government of the radical Fernando de la Rúa (1999-2001), so Sturzenegger was hit hard by the economic, political and social crisis of December 2001. middle of the storm.

During his Secretariat, the Government of De la Rúa and his controversial Minister of Economy, Domingo Cavallo, presented the “mega-swap”, an operation to exchange public securities that was presented as a great financial achievement, but which led to lawsuits against its promoters. , among them, Sturzenegger himself, who was finally dismissed in this case.

He left politics and ended up returning

With the cascade of resignations in 2001 and radicalism fading, Sturzenegger left the front line and returned to the academic world.. He was recognized at the World Economic Forum in Davos, received a Konex Prize in the Humanities category and was a visiting professor of public policy at foreign universities.

At the same time, he combined his academic work with the publication of articles in the press. In 2008, the then mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri, recovered Sturzenegger and appointed him president of Banco Ciudad.

The relationship between the economist and Macri became increasingly closer, and Sturzenegger completely integrated into Macri's party, becoming a member of the Republican Proposal (Pro) party, for which he was a national deputy between 2013 and 2015.

President of the Bank of Argentina

With Macri's victory in the 2015 presidential elections and his arrival at the Casa Rosada, the economist was named president of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic.

Sturzenegger led the monetary entity for three years, until 2018 and during this time he eliminated the exchange rate on the US dollar, promoted the creation of mortgage loans for the housing market and the expansion of instruments such as Central Bank bills (Lebac). and the liquidity letters (Leliq), which have been widely criticized by Milei.

His management at the helm of the Central Bank ended in 2018, when high levels of inflation caused a change in the direction of the entity, in which Macri placed Luis Caputo, who is currently in charge of the Ministry of Economy in the Milei government. .

Both came to be investigated in the judicial investigations that began in 2021 in Argentina for the financial rescue signed between Macri and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) worth $57 billion.

Behind Milei's reforms

If Caputo is in charge of the macroeconomic part in Milei's Executive, Sturzenegger is the soul of the structural reforms that the Argentine president proposes for the economy, social and political life of Argentina.

All of them are synthesized in two batteries of measures designed by Sturzenegger: the decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) and the macro-project of public emergency law that gives “superpowers” to the president.

In the presentation of the first on a national radio and television network, Milei appeared accompanied by his entire team at the Casa Rosada. Of all those present at that appearance, only Federico Sturzenegger was not a public official.

His role as “architect” is also possible thanks to his closeness to the president, whom he advises on all types of issues.. Thus, in recent weeks, the economist has been one of those in charge of defending the controversial packages of measures, which have been received with protests and “bangs” in the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities.

Sturzenegger was “shocked” by the “quick response” of the protesters to the DNU and the so-called Omnibus Law. The truth is that both texts are surprising for their length, more than 400 pages in both cases.

For now, Milei, Sturzeneger and the rest of the members of the Executive have warned Argentines that the DNU and the Omnibus Law are only the first steps in a profound reform of the foundations of the South American country.