Source: AFP
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday appointed Carlos Cuerpo, head of the Finance Ministry, as his new Economy Minister.
Cuerpo, who studied at the London School of Economics, will replace Nadia Calvino, a cabinet heavyweight who is leaving to head the European Investment Bank, the bloc’s lending arm.
After being sworn in, the 43-year-old vowed to “continue the downward spiral of debt and deficit, and to do so in a credible manner.”
The Spanish government has pledged to bring the budget deficit down to 3.0 percent of GDP in 2024 — within EU limits — from the 3.9 percent it expects this year and 4.8 percent in 2022.
Little known in Spain, Cuerpo has worked closely with Calvino, 55, who has served as finance minister since Sanchez took office in 2018.
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Her appointment was seen as an attempt to send a message of stability to markets worried about the new minority Socialist government’s reliance on the far left and Basque and Catalan separatist parties to pass legislation.
Calvino, who previously worked in the European Commission’s budget department in Brussels, reportedly suggested Cuerpo as her replacement.
Under her watch, Spain’s economy expanded 5.8 percent last year — one of the fastest rates in Europe — as it recovered from the pandemic and unemployment hovers near its lowest rate in about 15 years.
However, the Bank of Spain recently cut the country’s economic growth outlook for 2024, citing a slowdown in private consumption, even as it expected inflation to fall more than previously forecast.
It estimates that growth will have slowed to 2.4% this year and will expand by just 1.6% in 2024, below the bank’s previous forecast of 1.8%.
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Sanchez said Calvino had “set the bar high” but was confident Cuerpo would “give continuity and depth” to her “excellent work”.
The prime minister also announced that Budget Minister Maria Jesus Montero, whose performance he described as “brilliant,” would succeed Calvino as first deputy prime minister.
As deputy prime minister, the 57-year-old — who hails from the vote-rich southern region of Andalusia — will preside over weekly cabinet meetings when Sanchez is unable to do so.
CHZ/ds/lth
Source: AFP