Itau Unibanco bank chief economist Ilan Goldfajn on Tuesday was named to head Brazil’s central bank amid the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
Brazilian Minister of Finance Henrique Meirelles said Goldfajn would announce other members of his team once his appointment is confirmed by the Brazilian Senate.
Alexandre Tombini, who has served as the central bank’s chief since 2011 under now-suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, is to stay on the job until then.
Photo: AFP
Tombini praised Goldfajn’s “skills and background.”
The Israeli-born Goldfajn previously worked at the central bank as director and has held jobs at the IMF and the World Bank.
Meirelles became finance minister last week after Brazilian interim president Michel Temer took office.
At a news conference in Brasilia, Meirelles said the new administration would gradually win the trust of investors with its appointments and policies.
Brazil’s central bank expects the economy to contract 3 percent this year, following a decline of nearly 4 percent last year.
Meirelles said the government might have to introduce new taxes, contrary to the desire of most of the protesters, politicians and business leaders who backed the impeachment of Rousseff.
Although Temer’s fractious Brazilian Democratic Movement Party has been part of the government since 2005, Meirelles said he still needs a full assessment on the state of the economy to announce concrete measures to stimulate growth.
Meirelles also said he had brought an opposition economist into the finance ministry to make assessments on the state of the economy.
Mansueto Almeida, a noted critic of government spending, worked with defeated Brazilian presidential candidate Aecio Neves in his 2014 campaign.
The Sao Paulo stock exchange on Tuesday closed with a 1.86 percent dip. Brokers blamed foreign news for the fall since they found no surprise in the new economic team, although state-run Petrobras and Banco do Brasil were among the main losers of the day.
Consulting firm partner Grupo L&S Leandro Ruschel said the stock market is watching how Temer would govern amid the unstable political environment from the deep divisions among Brazilians over Rousseff’s impeachment.
“There is still the fact that President Rousseff has not been permanently removed,” Ruschel told Agencia Brasil. “The corruption probe at state-run oil giant Petrobras could also bring instability at any moment and involve key figures of Temer’s Cabinet.”
Two of Brazil’s biggest unions on Monday rejected meeting with Temer and hinted there could be strikes against his administration.
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