MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

British economist becomes new IMF Senior resident representative in Argentina

”Next week I was informed (Ben Kelmanson) will be taking his new position in Buenos Aries, replacing Jamaican Trevor Alleyne”, twitted ambassador Argüello

Argentine ambassador in Washington, Jorge Argüello has reported he received the visit of British economist Ben Kelmanson, appointed the new IMF Senior resident representative in Argentina, who will be involved in the delicate debt negotiations for the coming years.

”Next week I was informed (Kelmanson) will be taking his new position in Buenos Aries, replacing Jamaican Trevor Alleyne“, twitted Argüello.

Kelmanson, who graduated at Leeds university, has 22 years experience as an IMF economist, having worked in different issues at global and regional level, and managing institutional policies for advanced, low income and emerging economies, according to a brief IMF background release.

The British economist for the last three years has been the IMF representative in Turkey, another hard nut, and previous to that Kelmanson was posted in Moldavia, Letonia and deputy of the European Department Unit. He also has experience working with the UK Treasury.

Kelmanson will have the task of participating in the ongoing and exhausting IMF/Argentina negotiations to reschedule 44 billion dollars payments on a redit granted to the previous government of former president Mauricio Macri, which not only is considered unpayable in a country technically broke, but also led to a purge of some positions in the IMF structure, given the amount of the credit granted at the moment, 57bn dollars, and allegedly on 'mild conditions”.

In effect, last week the new head of the IMF Western Hemisphere Department, appointed last September, Llan Goldfajn, officially assumed his position. He succeeds Argentine/Mexican Alejandro Werner, who has retired from the IMF, and can be considered a victim of the 2018 credit granting operation to Argentina.

Israeli/Brazilian Goldfajn was Governor of the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) from May 2016 until February 2019. During his tenure at the BCB, he oversaw implementation of significant regulatory changes that opened the door to new players in the financial services industry, spurred innovation and digitalization, and fostered the growth of fintech companies that has had a positive impact on Brazil’s financial sector. In 2017, he was elected Central Banker of the Year by The Banker magazine; and the year after, he was named Best Central Banker by Global Finance magazine.

Goldfajn’s experience in the private sector include positions as Chief Economist and Partner of Itaú Unibanco, founding Partner of Ciano Investimentos, and Partner and Economist at Gávea Investimentos—three leading financial institutions in Brazil. More recently he was the Chairman of Credit Suisse Brazil’s Advisory Board. He has also worked as a consultant to a number of global financial organizations including the World Bank, the United Nations, and the IMF.

He has taught economics at various universities in Brazil and the United States. He has worked as an editor of various publications, as well as written and published numerous articles and books. Goldfajn holds a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a master’s degree in Economics from the Pontifíca Universidade Católica and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Universidade Federal, both in Rio de Janeiro..

In Argentine political circles, Goldfajn is described as an orthodox economist, but pragmatic, who is well aware and informed of the Argentine political and economic situation, but will definitively not want to repeat the role of Alejandro (Werner), his predecessor who was knocked out by his implementation of the 2018 credit to the Macri administration