Carlos Cuerpo, who currently heads Spain’s treasury department, is to become the country’s new Economy Minister, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Friday.
Cuerpo, who studied at the London School of Economics, will replace Nadia Calviño, who is leaving to head the European Investment Bank (EIB), the bloc’s lending arm whose significance has grown since war broke out in Ukraine. ALSO READ: Spain’s Economy Minister Nadia Calviño chosen to lead EU Investment Bank.
Sánchez praised Cuerpo as an ‘honest professional’ with ‘deep knowledge of public administration and economic policy’.
‘His predecessor sets the bar very high, but I am convinced that Carlos Cuerpo will brilliantly give continuity and depth to the exceptional work done by Nadia Calviño,’ said Sánchez in a televised address.
With Calviño leaving to head the EIB, Sánchez also announced that María Jesús Montero, the Minister of Finance and Public Function, would now become the first deputy prime minister – a role that Calviño also held.
Little known in Spain, Cuerpo worked closely with Calviño (seen together in main picture), who previously worked in the European Commission’s budget department in Brussels before her political career began in 2018.
The new minister will have to deal with the phasing out of a series of inflation relief policies in the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy, including cuts to the value-added tax on electricity and subsidies for transportation, as growth slows. ALSO READ: Spain extends some anti-inflation measures, including public transport subsidies, in 2024.
The Bank of Spain recently lowered the country’s economic growth outlook for 2024, citing slowing private consumption even as it expected inflation to ebb more than predicted earlier.
It estimates growth will have slowed down to 2.4% from a post-pandemic rebound 5.8% in 2022, and will expand by just 1.6% in 2024, below the bank’s previous forecast of 1.8%.
El nuevo ministro de @_minecogob será Carlos Cuerpo, @carlos_cuerpo. Presidirá la política económica del Gobierno y presidirá la Comisión Delegada de Asuntos Económicos.
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) December 29, 2023
La vicepresidenta cuarta, @mjmonteroc, pasa a convertirse en la vicepresidenta primera del Gobierno.
Además,… pic.twitter.com/s0dmfJQN4L
#ECOFIN backs our very own Vice President @NadiaCalvino to lead the @EIB.
— Carlos Cuerpo (@carlos_cuerpo) December 8, 2023
Excellent news for this key #EU institution!
So sad to see you go…and yet so happy for this well deserved recognition 🙂
All the best in your new endeavours!#TeamNadia pic.twitter.com/btql5SrVfQ
Sign up for the FREE Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
Please support Spain in English with a donation.
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.
Click here for further details on how to ADVERTISE with us.
