Argentina's finance and energy ministers have offered to resign in the wake of President Mauricio Macri's stalled energy price hikes. The energy and finance ministries initially crafted a fiscal plan that proposed raising the government's income by increasing electricity and natural gas prices. But when Macri's administration attempted to implement the hikes in April, it was thwarted by a deluge of local and regional court injunctions a few months later. Though the president took his case to Argentina's Supreme Court, it upheld the lower courts' rulings. Macri will now have to resort to public hearings, the first of which will be held Sept. 16, to get a price increase approved. The hikes likely will not be instated until next year, forcing the government to take on more debt in the meantime to cover shortfalls in the budget.

Although this presents only a temporary setback, it speaks to the difficulty Macri will have in governing Argentina in the coming years. Even though the president has managed to lift the biggest barriers to foreign investment in Argentina, he still faces an active opposition and a population that has become accustomed to subsidized utilities. Potential investors may now be questioning Macri's ability to exert basic authority and push through measures that would vastly improve Argentina's finances.

As the architects of the price hike plan, Energy Minister Juan Jose Aranguren and Economy Minister Alfonso Prat-Gay seemingly underestimated the public's opposition to the price increases. They also did little to shield the administration from the legal action taken by those protesting the measure. (The courts unanimously agreed that the state should have held public hearings before raising prices.) Though both men have tendered their resignations, Macri has rejected them. Either way, the damage has been done, and the government's latest fumble has given the opposition more ammunition to use against Macri.