Azucena María Arbeleche Perdomo (born 29 September 1970) is a

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

an professor, economist and civil servant who served as Minister of Economy and Finance of Uruguay from 2020 to 2025 under president

Luis Lacalle Pou Luis Alberto Aparicio Alejandro Lacalle Pou (, ; born 11 August 1973), is a Uruguayan politician and lawyer, who served as the 42nd president of Uruguay from 2020 to 2025. The son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle, Lacalle Pou attended ...

, being the first woman to hold that office.

Early life and education

Azucena María Arbeleche Perdomo was born in 1970, the daughter of Beltrán José Arbeleche and Theresita Perdomo. She attended

The British Schools of Montevideo The British Schools of Montevideo is a private, coeducational, non-profit school, founded in 1887 and based in the capital of Uruguay. It offers a bilingual education, combining the Uruguayan national curriculum with an English-language program ...

, and in 1996 graduated from the

University of the Republic The University of the Republic (, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is a public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the country's oldest and largest university, as well as one of the largest public universities in South America in terms of en ...

with a degree in economics. She also obtained a master's degree in applied macroeconomics from the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical univ ...

Career

While she was in her fourth year of college, she worked for the

Office of Planning and Budget The Office of Planning and Budget (OPP) () is the agency responsible for advising the Government of Uruguay in the formulation of national and departmental plans, programs and policies as well as in the definition of the Government's economic a ...

. From March 1995 to December 1996, she served as a collaborator at BGV Corredores de Bolsa, and from 1998 to 2000 at the Center for Economic and Financial Research in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. In 2001 she joined the Macroeconomic Advisory of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, at the request of her former professor ant then minister Isaac Alfie. In that position, she participated in the design and implementation of measures against the 2002 crisis, and in the restructuring process of the total

government debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occu ...

in May 2003. From 2005 to 2010, she served as an advisor to the Debt Management Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, at the request of then-minister

Danilo Astori Danilo Ángel Astori Saragosa (23 April 1940 – 10 November 2023) was a Uruguayan social democratic politician and economist who served as the 15th vice president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015 under President José Mujica. A member of Urugua ...

. She was its head from 2011 to 2014, when she resigned to join the presidential campaign of

as economic adviser. Between 2015 and 2019 she dedicated herself to carrying out independent consultancies in debt management abroad through the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and the Plata Basin Financial Development Fund. She also held the position of director of the Center for Studies of the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

. Arbeleche was a professor at institutions such as the University of the Republic, the

Catholic University of Uruguay Catholic University of Uruguay () (UCU) is a private university in Uruguay. Established in 1985 as the successor to several Catholic educational institutes dating back to the 1870s, it was the only private university in the country until 1996. It ...

Andrés Bello National University The Andrés Bello University (; UNAB) is a Chilean private university founded in 1988. Rankings UNAB is ranked 56th among Latin American universities in 2022, and Andrés Bello University currently ranked 8th among Chilean universities accord ...

and the

University of Montevideo The University of Montevideo (; UM) is a private (catholic, Opus Dei) university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It opened in 1986, and obtained the right to be legally named a university in 1997. It has been ranked as thnumber one University in Uruguayby ...

. A member of the

, Arbeleche was in charge of economic issues for the presidential campaigns of

in 2014 and 2019. On 16 December 2019, she was formally announced by the president-elect Lacalle Pou as head of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, becoming on 1 March 2020, the first woman to hold the position. During the process of reactivating the Uruguayan economy as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Arbeleche expressed her admiration for

Keynesian economics Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomics, macroeconomic theories and Economic model, models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongl ...

Other activities

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

(IDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2020)

Personal life

With her husband Juan Alzugaray, Arbeleche has two sons born in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and a daughter born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. She is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and has done social work as a catechist and teacher in slums. In 2014 she was featured on the cover of the magazine ''Seis Grados'' of the newspaper '' El Observador''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbeleche, Azucena 1970 births 20th-century economists 21st-century economists Living people National Party (Uruguay) politicians Ministers of economy and finance of Uruguay Pontifical Catholic University of Chile alumni Academic staff of the Catholic University of Uruguay University of the Republic (Uruguay) alumni Academic staff of the University of the Republic (Uruguay) Academic staff of the University of Montevideo Uruguayan economists Uruguayan educators Uruguayan Roman Catholics Uruguayan women educators Female finance ministers Uruguayan civil servants Uruguayan women civil servants Uruguayan women economists People educated at The British Schools of Montevideo