Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernandez arrived at the presidential palace in Buenos Aires on Monday for a meeting with outgoing incumbent Mauricio Macri where the two are expected to discuss the potentially tricky transition of power as financial markets watch closely.
Peronist Fernandez swept into power on Sunday, ousting conservative leader Macri in an election result that shifts Latin America’s No. 3 economy firmly back towards the left amid swirling economic crisis and rising debt fears.
Fernandez faces a major challenge to revive Argentina’s economy, mired in recession for much of the last year, while fending off a rising mountain of debt payments amid concerns the country may be forced into a damaging default.
Investors, who have been following the twists and turns of the election closely, will now be on the lookout for signs from Fernandez about his likely economic policies and the make-up of his economic team.
Argentines find the country headed in a likely different direction after the almost four-years of Macri, who tried to drive market reforms, but was scuppered by a sharp downturn in the economy since last year.
“The truth is that I am happy with the change, we did not want to keep going with the same government and hopefully things change a bit now for everyone because it was bad,” said Ramora Perez, 61, in Buenos Aires.
On Monday, markets and the peso were mostly muted, helped in-part by the conciliatory tone between the two candidates and their meeting, as well as tighter controls on currency brought into effect in the early hours of the morning.
Argentine officials are preparing for tough negotiations with creditors over $100 billion in sovereign debt that has become painfully expensive for the country.
Fernandez had 47.79% of the vote, ahead of Macri’s 40.71%, with more than 90% of ballots counted, putting the center-left challenger over the 45% threshold to avoid a runoff and win the election outright.
