Matías Kulfas

Matías Sebastián Kulfas (born 8 April 1972) is an Argentine economist and professor. He served as Minister of Productive Development from 10 December 2019 to 4 June 2022, in the cabinet of President Alberto Fernández, and previously served as Undersecretary of Small and Medium-sized Businesses from 2006 to 2008, as well as a member of the board of directors of the National Bank of Argentina (2008–2012) and as General Manager of the Argentine Central Bank (2012–2013).

Matías Kulfas
Minister of Productive Development
In office
10 December 2019 – 4 June 2022
PresidentAlberto Fernández
Preceded byDante Sica (as Minister of Production and Labour)
Succeeded byDaniel Scioli
General Manager of the Central Bank of Argentina
In office
22 February 2012 – 18 November 2013
Preceded byBenigno Vélez
Succeeded byJuan Carlos Isi
Undersecretary of Small and Medium-sized Businesses and Regional Development
In office
24 April 2006 – 18 February 2008
PresidentNéstor Kirchner
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Preceded byFederico Poli
Succeeded byEric Calcagno
Personal details
Born (1972-04-08) 8 April 1972
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Political partyIndependent
Frente de Todos (since 2019)
Alma materUniversity of Buenos Aires
Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences

Early life and education

Kulfas was born in 1972 in Buenos Aires.[1] He studied high school at the Escuela Superior de Comercio Carlos Pellegrini, and then studied economy at the University of Buenos Aires, finishing his licenciatura in 1995.[2] He then went on to finish a master's degree on Political Economy at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, and later became a Doctor in Social Sciences in the same university.[3] Since 2005 he has been a permanent faculty at the University of Buenos Aires School of Economics, where he teaches Argentine economic structure. He also teaches economic development at the National University of General San Martín.[1]

Political career

Starting in 1994 Kulfas began working in the Ministry of the Treasury as a consultant at the Secretariat of Economic Planning (until 1995) and then at the National Directorate of International Accounting, from 1995 to 1996.[4] Between 2000 and 2003, he was at the forefront of the Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Económico Metropolitano (CEDEM), an agency dependent on the Secretariat of Economic Development of the Buenos Aires city government, and he worked as an economic consultant in the same secretariat as well. In 2004, he began working in the Bank of Buenos Aires City, where he held the position of Economic Studies manager.[2][4]

In 2006, Kulfas was appointed Undersecretary of Small and Medium-sized Businesses and Regional Development, then a centralized agency dependent on the Ministry of Economy.[5] He worked under the successive administrations of Economy Ministers Felisa Miceli, Miguel Gustavo Peirano and Martín Lousteau.

Banco Nación and Central Bank

In 2008, he joined the board of directors of the Bank of the Argentine Nation (Banco Nación), then going on to be appointed General Manager of the Central Bank of Argentina in 2013; he remained in the post until 2013.[6] Under his management, the Central Bank created a dependency specifically oriented toward financial services user complaints.[7]

In 2017, Kulfas joined Alberto Fernández, Santiago Cafiero, Cecilia Todesca and others in forming Grupo Callao, a non-Kirchnerist Peronist think tank.[8]

Ministry of Productive Development

On 10 December 2019, following speculation that he might be appointed Minister of Economy, Kulfas was appointed Minister of Productive Development by newly elected President Alberto Fernández as part of the new cabinet of Argentina, succeeding Dante Sica.[2][4]

At the onset of the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown measures, the Production and Labour ministries launched two complimentary social assistance schemes: the Ingreso Familiar de Emergencia ("Emergency Family Income", IFE) and the Asistencia de Emergencia al Trabajo y la Producción ("Emergency Labour and Production Assistance", ATP). The IFE programme granted 10,000 monthly pesos to informal sector workers and self-employed workers whose income was affected by the lockdown. In total, over 8 million people across the country during two months, and later continued to be issued for people living in urban centres where lockdown measures continued in place throughout 2020. On the other hand, the ATP programme granted half of the salaries of workers (active or otherwise) for a number of businesses.[9] Lastly, the government forbid all terminations and unilateral suspensions of labour contracts for 120 days, later extending the measure to cover all of 2020 and 2021.[10]

In June 2022, Fernández asked for Kulfas' resignation after allegations that the minister had made off-the-record remarks about Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.[11]

References
  1. "Matías Kulfas". National University of General San Martín (in Spanish). 5 November 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  2. Jueguen, Francisco (6 December 2019). "Matías Kulfas, ministro de Desarrollo Productivo: entre la heterodoxia económica, la guitarra y su pasión por Boca". La Nación. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  3. "Matías Kulfas". Revista Anfibia (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  4. "Matías Kulfas, académico y apasionado por la guitarra". Ámbito (in Spanish). 6 December 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  5. Donato, Natalia (28 October 2019). "¿Quién será el ministro de Economía de Alberto Fernández?". Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  6. "Designan a Matías Kulfas en reemplazo de Benigno Vélez en el BCRA". Clarín (in Spanish). 22 February 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  7. "El BCRA creó un área para defensa del usuario de servicios financieros". Ámbito (in Spanish). 3 July 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  8. "Se lanza el Grupo Callao, nuevo think thank peronista". www.tiempoar.com.ar (in Spanish). 12 May 2018. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  9. "Bono del IFE, ATP y créditos a tasa cero: tres gráficos que muestran el impacto en cada provincia". BAE Negocios (in Spanish). 6 June 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  10. "El Gobierno oficializó la prórroga de la prohibición de despidos hasta el próximo 31 de diciembre". argentina.gob.ar (in Spanish). 28 June 2021. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  11. "Alberto Fernández le pidió la renuncia a Matías Kulfas". Página 12 (in Spanish). 4 June 2022. Retrieved 5 June 2022.
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