Iván Duque has picked Alberto Carrasquilla to be Colombia’s next finance minister.
Carrasquilla previously helmed the finance ministry from 2003 to 2007, when Álvaro Uribe was president. Carrasquilla was elected president of the IMF’s Development Committee in 2015 and also worked as a lead researcher at the IDB. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Illinois.
Carrasquilla “has deep knowledge of monetary and fiscal issues as well as of the nation’s budgetary structure,” Duque said in a press release.
Alberto Bernal, chief strategist at XP Securities, called Carrasquilla “a great choice” to run Colombia’s finance ministry. “He’s a fiscal hawk and he understands the need to maintain Colombia’s foreign-currency rating stable or help it start to go up again,” he said.
Duque’s proposed fiscal policies include overhauling the public pension system, cutting government spending and lowering taxes.
Carrasquilla replaces Mauricio Cárdenas, who has served as finance minister since 2012 under the ougoing president, Juan Manuel Santos.