in prices. He avoided to use a shock therapy and introduced the changes gradually. On January 19, Prat Gay and Macri went to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland with Sergio Massa and part of his cabinet looking for investments. He had meetings with various business representatives, politicians and journalists. Some of them were US Vice President Joe Biden, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, the founder of Virgin Group Richard Branson, CEO of Google Eric Schmidt, the Queen of the Netherlands, President and CEO Coca-Cola, Muhtar Kent among others. It was the first time that Argentina participates since 2003. The last president was Eduardo Duhalde. He successfully ended the sovereign default declared in 2001. Prat Gay returned Argentina to the internacional capital markets and helped to restore international relations. "Argentina is back, and I hope you enjoy it." Minister Prat Gay at the Atlantic Council, Washington, D.C., U.S., on April 14, 2016. Political intervention in the INDEC figures ended, and the IMF declared in November 2016 that Argentine statistics were again in accordance with international standards. Among the most notorious vulnerabilities of the administration was an extremely high inflation rate: it was 40% in 2016 (while the Central Bank expected an inflation rate of 17% for 2017, 10% for 2018 and 5% for 2019). He had conflicting views of the economy with Federico Sturzenegger, president of the Central Bank of Argentina. By demand of president Macri, he resigned on December 26, 2016, and was succeeded by Nicolás Dujovne. References External links |- |- 1965 births Living people Argentine economists Argentine Ministers of Finance Argentine people of Catalan descent Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Members of the Inter-American Dialogue People educated at Colegio Cardenal Newman People from Buenos Aires Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina alumni Presidents of the Central Bank of Argentina University of Pennsylvania alumni