MADRID, Dec 29, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on

Friday appointed Carlos Cuerpo, who currently heads the treasury department,
to be his new economy minister.

Cuerpo, who studied at the London School of Economics, will replace Nadia
Calvino, who is leaving to head the European Investment Bank, the bloc's
lending arm whose significance has grown since war broke out in Ukraine.

Sanchez 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 Calvino," the Socialist premier added in a televised address.

Little known in Spain, Cuerpo worked closely with Calvino, 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.

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 percent from a post-pandemic
rebound 5.8 percent in 2022, and will expand by just 1.6 percent in 2024,
below the bank's previous forecast of 1.8 percent.