Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador appointed Rogelio Ramirez de la O as the new finance minister on Wednesday, while the outgoing president, Arturo Herrera, will be proposed as central bank governor.
With this change, Lopez Obrador said, in a video posted on his social networks, that he seeks to “maintain macroeconomic stability” in the remaining three years of his presidency.
“Herrera will be proposed to serve as governor of the Bank of Mexico (…). He will be Rogelio Ramirez de la or the next Treasury Secretary,” said the leftist president.
López Obrador had already announced in May that he would not nominate the current central bank governor, Alejandro Diaz de Leon, for a new term and that he would propose an economist with a “social dimension”.
The governor of the Bank of Mexico is proposed by the president and must be ratified by the Senate.
With these changes, the president said, he seeks to maintain the current economic policy. “It has given us very good results because despite the pandemic, the economic crisis has been overcome, and we are coming out,” he said.
The Mexican economy, which ranks second in Latin America, fell 8.5% in 2020 affected by the pandemic, but the government expects a 6.5% recovery this year.
The leftist ruler pursues a policy of no-debt, and in the midst of the pandemic crisis, he refused to give incentives to the private sectors, but doubled his social programs.
Ramirez de la O, who called him his “Economics teacher,” is a consultant and analyst with studies at the state-run National Autonomous University of Mexico and in Cambridge, UK.
He was director of Ecanal (Economic Analysis of Corporate Planning) and an advisor to the Mexican president, who proposed him in 2012, as a presidential candidate, for the position of Secretary of the Treasury.
“This is an important moment for Mexico because we are emerging from a pandemic and a far-reaching global recession. We must all work together to ensure that lessons learned during this pandemic are used to build a stronger economy that serves the entire country,” Ramirez de la O said.
López Obrador began the second section of his government after his party, Morena, suffered a setback in elections to the Chamber of Deputies, losing the absolute majority it had obtained by itself.
With his allies, he will be able to continue to control the House of Representatives, but he will no longer be able to add the qualified majority (two-thirds) he has in the outgoing legislature that is necessary for constitutional reforms.
sem / gma
“Creator. Devoted pop culture specialist. Certified web fanatic. Unapologetic coffee lover.”