Krieger Vasena, Adalberto (1920–2000)

views updated

Krieger Vasena, Adalberto (1920–2000)

Adalberto Krieger Vasena was an Argentine politician and economist who served as minister of the economy during the de facto governments of what has been termed the "Liberating Revolution" between 1957 and 1958, and during the administration of Juan Carlos Onganía from 1967 to 1969.

Krieger Vasena was an economist with liberal roots; during his first term as minister, Argentina joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Called on again by the military dictatorship in late 1966 to stabilize the economy, Krieger Vasena (who had the support of the international financial agencies) promoted a plan to control inflation and reactivate the economy with a heavy emphasis on industry. The general lines of the plan were a 40 percent devaluation of the Argentine peso, the introduction of heavy export taxes, and the freezing of wages.

With the Cordobazo civil uprising in 1969 (a social protest by students and workers centered in the city of Córdoba), Krieger Vasena had to relinquish his position as minister. In 1973 he was called on to serve as director of the World Bank and two years later became the bank's executive vice president for Latin America, serving until 1978. In addition to his terms as minister, he is remembered for having supported the work of economy minister José Martínez de Hoz during a plan called "The Process" (1976–1982) and Carlos Menem's state reform project (1989–1999).