Paula Lugones
12/05/2020 16:08
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 12/05/2020 16:08
They are usually low-profile civil servants, known for technical jobs or for a decision they make behind closed doors in the Pennsylvania Avenue building in Washington.
But
Mark Rosen
, executive director for the United States at the International Monetary Fund, recently gained unexpected popularity far from the US capital, more precisely in Argentina, when Foreign Minister
Felipe Solá
said that this bald, bushy-bearded economist educated at Oxford and Harvard, who speaks fluent Spanish, made it
difficult for the government to negotiate with the agency.
Rosen, 58, was appointed by Donald Trump in 2018 as the US Representative to the Fund and his nomination was approved last year by the Senate.
It is an important position for our country today since any new agreement on the debt that the Government manages to reach with the technical staff
must be submitted to the IMF executive board.
That body is the one that must approve or reject the program and there the United States is the country that has the greatest weight because it is the first economic power on the planet and the organism's maximum financial contributor.
With
16.5% voting power you
can tip the balance with ease on the board.
In fact, the largest loan in the history of the Fund was approved for Argentina in 2018
thanks to the strong endorsement of Trump.
Following the communication between President-elect Joe Biden and Alberto Fernández last Monday, Solá said in an interview that the conversation had discussed negotiations with the Fund and that Biden had been told that with Rosen Argentina
“had no good luck ”
(without giving details) and let it be understood that they were waiting for a replacement.
Solá's sayings - which later became known had not been present during the conversation - raised a stir because they
violated the secret of the talk
, something they are not used to in Washington.
Rosen complained to the Minister
Martín Guzmán
and the Argentine representative in the
Sergio Chodos
Fund
(a photo of that meeting was even released, something very unusual) and Fernández had to go out to put cold cloths and say that the statements of his foreign minister had been
"Totally reckless."
Rosen was born in Great Britain and met the United States only in 1980, when she was 18 years old, and fell in love with the country to which she promised to return.
Six years later, after graduating from Oxford University in politics, philosophy and economics, he settled in Boston to pursue a master's degree in business administration at Harvard University.
Then he began his career in different Wall Street giants, always focused on investments in Latin America, a region that has a meaning beyond the professional because
his wife Inés is of Peruvian origin
.
He worked at Credit Suisse for 10 years and then 8 more at Bank of America Merryl Lynch until in 2019 he was summoned by Secretary of the Treasury
Steven Mnuchin
to work in the area of International Financial Markets.
Within a few months he was nominated for the Fund.
When seeking his confirmation in the Senate for his position, Rosen said that he had turned to public service "out of a debt of gratitude" towards the country that had given "great opportunities" to him and his family, also made up of his daughter Katerina. , who produces documentaries in New York, and his son Ben, who works as a health consultant.
Those who know him in Washington point out that Rosen is a "very serious" professional and that, beyond the fact that directors must obey the mandate of their governments,
"he does not show ideology" in his work
.
He is someone who knows the international financial system and "visibly understands the added value of international cooperation," they point out.
In that sense,
he would not be very attached to anti-multilateralist dogma or Trump's "America first."
Rosen can remain in his position, but it is also very possible that Biden, who will take office on January 20,
decides to change it to have someone more in tune in that position.
But any move will take time and will not be easy because the Senate's agreement is required and it is possible that Republicans will retain the majority there.
What could happen, as
Héctor Torres,
former director of Argentina before the Fund,
explained to
Clarín
, is that with Biden in power, the Treasury asks Rosen to resign and names a replacement with the rank of “senior advisor” (not director ),
which does not require confirmation but which de facto functions as such,
while the position remains vacant.
Such a situation happened in the time of Barack Obama with Mark Sobel, who was in fact the director, without having the agreement of the Senate.
The Government insists that the official intention is to
reach March or April with the new program approved with the Fund
.
Biden has to fight in the Senate with the confirmation of all his ministers and it is possible that the appointment of a future representative in the body will not be a priority for him.
In Washington they seek to
relativize the importance
of who will be in the US seat at the time of signing an agreement.
They believe that there is a tendency in the Argentine political debate to "pay attention to personalities and not focus on important issues" which in this case would be for the Government to achieve the necessary consensus to adopt the measures that are important to obtain the program.
"
If you have a credible program with political and social support
- they point out - there is already an important basis for the approval of the board, beyond the personalities."
Look also
After the anger in the Economy, President Alberto Fernández supported Felipe Solá although he considered some statements he made as "very reckless"
The background of the anger with Solá for the conversation with Biden
