Argentina's new economy minister, Miguel Roig, died of a heart attack Friday after only six days in office, with hyperinflation still raging despite his tough measures.
Last Sunday Roig unveiled a program which Peronist President Carlos Menem described as "major surgery without anesthetic" to restore order to the chaotic economy.Roig, 68, a chain-smoker and former chief executive of the Argentine multinational Bunge y Born, had been negotiating with leading businessmen on a pact to hold down prices, which he had forecast would triple during July. He died shortly after attending a French embassy party for the bicentennial of the storming of the Bastille, officials said.
As news of his death spread through Buenos Aires, Argentina's currency, the austral, plummeted on the black market to 755 per dollar against 675 on Friday morning.
"Sorry, we're not selling any more," a black market operator told a line of would-be buyers in the financial district.
There was no immediate announcement on who would succeed Roig. "Maybe everything will change, but then maybe nothing will change," his deputy, Economic Coordination Secretary Orlando Ferreres, told reporters.
"Our state is broke," said Roig in announcing his program, which devalued the austral by 54 percent to an official rate of 650 and raised the prices of gasoline, gas, electricity and other services by up to 640 percent.