Cecilia Todesca: Argentina nominates Cecilia Todesca and joins race for IDB presidency

Argentina joined the race for the presidency Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), The most important multilateral credit organization on the continent. On the verge of the nomination period, Alberto Fernandez’s government has noticed downstream Cecilia Todesca, Secretary for Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an economist who is part of his circle of authority. The news came from Paris, where Fernandez is with Todesca on tour, on a stopover ahead of the delegation that will take part in next week’s G20 summit to be held in Bali, Indonesia. Anyway, it was a big surprise. So far, only Mexico, Chile and Brazil have confirmed the nominees and Argentina has not made any intention of competing. Now begins long negotiations to unanimously elect the person who will replace in the Islamic Development Bank Mauricio Clavier Carone, sacked at the end of September for his relationship with an employee.

Cecilia Todesca was born in Buenos Aires 51 years ago. He is an economist from the University of Buenos Aires and a graduate student at Columbia University. He is from a Peronist family and today he is a member of “albertismo”, in which the small group of high officials still loyal to Alberto Fernandez is called The fight he had with his deputy, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. His name once appeared as a potential minister of the economy. His only experience before international organizations was during the presidency of Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007), when he served as Argentine President at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He also worked in the sovereign risk analysis division of Standard & Poor’s risk rating agency. At Casa Rosada, they considered that being a woman added points to their candidacy, as well as the fact that Argentina had never had the address of the bank, despite being one of its major contributors.

Argentina’s candidacy is evidence of the lack of agreement to find a compromise name with Brazil and Mexico. The nomination of Ian Goldfein, the former head of Brazil’s central bank and current director of the International Monetary Fund’s Western Hemisphere, is a cornerstone of the agreement. Goldfajn is the man Jair Bolsonaro chose as his candidate at the end of his term. If the incoming president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, gives him his support, the election is practically guaranteed. The problem is that since Lula has not given any indication in this regard, the competition is still open. The Mexican case also added noise to the process.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Alicia Barcena, former Director of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, nominated But this week He proposed to Central Bank Governor Gerardo Esquivel. Chile also joined Thursday, nominating Nicolás Izaguirre, a former Minister of Economy and Education and Minister-General to the Presidency during the administration of Presidents Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet.

In the Argentine government, they confirmed that they would work for a consensual number in the event that Lula da Silva withdraws his support for the man chosen by Bolsonaro. The challenge is to get the approval of the United States, the major shareholder of the Islamic Development Bank, with 30% of the capital. Joe Biden’s government was instrumental in the downfall of Mauricio Clavier Carone He was made head of the multilateral bank by Donald Trump. His appointment caused a political crisis in the region due to He broke with the tradition that gave the chair of the Islamic Development Bank to Latin America. Claver left Caron through the back door in September, having been found out He had benefited from a salary increase for an employee with whom he had a relationship. Washington did nothing to save him.

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