Buenos Aires, Feb 2 (NA) – Pedro Lines, the appointed head of the National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC), was until this Monday the technical director of the body. Minister of Economy Luis Caputo highlighted his work at INDEC and announced in an interview with Radio Rivadavia that he will replace Marco Lavagna, following his departure. Lines holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires, a Master's in Economics from the Center for Macroeconomic Studies, and is currently pursuing a Master's in Data Mining at the Austral University. He works as the technical director at INDEC, coordinating the development of the country's annual statistical program. Among other tasks, he was responsible for a macroeconomic simulation model that allowed for the formulation of a medium-term financial program and the deseasonalization of economic series. During his career, he acquired experience in the collection, compilation, classification, and production of national accounts statistics, along with a deep knowledge of statistical software. He also coordinates the development of standards and technical procedures related to the planning, design, implementation, and evaluation of censuses and surveys, as well as social and economic indicators, among other functions. According to his social media, he is a member of the United Nations Group of Advisory Experts (AEG) of the Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts (ISWGNA). From 2016 to 2018, he was in charge of compiling the estimates of Argentina's Balance of Payments, External Debt and GDP. From 2011 to 2016, he worked for the Statistical Authority of Qatar, where he was in charge of building the Supply-Utilization tables and the institutional sector accounts of Qatar. He also worked for ten years as an ad-honorem assistant in Econometrics at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Lines began his career in National Accounts, working on the estimates of the base year 1993 of Argentina, where he participated in the collection, validation, and analysis of data. Later, in that same office, he was responsible for the final consistency and mathematical treatment of the Input-Product Matrix 1997. He was in charge of the estimates of private consumption and gross fixed internal investment for Argentina.
