MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina Names Economic Minister

Argentina's president enlisted a trade specialist and former diplomat to be his economy minister on Friday, the sixth person recruited over the last year for the job of rescuing a ravaged economy and a financial system bordering on collapse.

Roberto Lavagna, Argentina's ambassador to the European Union took over as banks across the country gradually reopened following a four-day government shutdown that left the economy near a standstill.

The government said Lavagna's first task will be to "anchor" the peso to the dollar. President Eduardo Duhalde abandoned the one-to-one peg to the dollar days after taking office in January. He insisted an overly strong peso was the cause of the Argentina's financial morass. Lavagna, 60, is a former commerce secretary who advocates strong trade ties with the international finance community, expertise he may well need if he is to ease Argentina's devastating four-year recession.

Duhalde had been searching for days for someone to replace his long time aide Jorge Remes Lenicov, who resigned after political support evaporated for his efforts to both secure new international and prop up the fragile banking system.

Hours before his confirmation as the top economic chief, Lavagna called on political leaders "to work together" to end the turmoil that has forced Argentina to default on its $141 billion debt and left one out of every five Argentines jobless.

Lavagna will immediately face pressure from international lenders for spending cuts. But such calls have been rejected by many Argentine politicians, who say more austerity will only drive their country deeper into recession.

Among his challenges, Lavagna needs to help Argentina restore confidence among international investors after the government's debt default last year. The International Monetary Fund is calling for reductions in spending as a precondition for fresh aid.

On Friday, legislation took effect that would block depositors who win lawsuits from retrieving trapped savings until the government can appeal.

Even as Duhalde and his economic worked on new economic measures, social tensions continued to simmer.

In Buenos Aires, dozens of unemployed Argentines blocked a major downtown avenue, demanding jobs and criticizing the government's handling of the crisis.

Meanwhile, hundreds of unemployed workers threw rocks at a bank building in Formosa, a city 600 miles north of the capital, angry that they would not be paid unemployment benefits on time.