Finance Minister Ignacio Briones resigned

CHILE - In Brief 26 Jan 2021 by Igal Magendzo

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As expected, Finance Minister Ignacio Briones resigned on Tuesday to launch a presidential run. Briones’ political skills and common touch made him a valued addition to the government in the aftermath of the 2019 protests. His popularity has made him a natural choice as a presidential candidate for Evópoli, his political party. President Sebastián Piñera has replaced Briones with Rodrigo Cerda. A PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, Cerda worked his way up the ranks of the Finance Ministry as a deputy to former minister Felipe Larraín. Cerda is also an academic colleague of Larrain’s at the Catholic University of Chile. Cerda, who is seen as ideologically close to Larraín and personally close to Piñera, served in the powerful job of Budget Director in the first two years of the current administration. He left in December of 2019, apparently over a difference of opinion with Briones regarding the government’s spending plans in response to the current crisis. During his stint as Budget Director, Cerda earned a reputation as a good parliamentary negotiator, and built close relationships with Congress. It remains to be seen if those relationships will last now that Cerda has a job that is a natural lightning rod for criticism. Cerda has all the required qualifications as an economist, but may not come endowed with the communicational skills that helped Briones lower tensions with opposition politicians and to gain the confidence of a skeptical public opinion. Cerda’s first challenge will be to move forward on the government’s pension reform proposals, which Piñera has committed to presenting in the weeks following the summer recess. The pension reform faces a v...