Everybody is wondering how the next president of Brazil,Dilma Rouseff, will behave. Will she follow Lula’s step or will she implement her own agenda, are questions in the back of our minds. She announced this week the names for ministers of Finance, Central bank and Planning and analysts start to explain what is behind those names.
First impressions: Itau on 25/11 : Dilma’s economic trio: just-in-case briefings
If we’re to believe local papers, Dilma’s economic team has been designated: Mantega stays as Finance Minister, Tombini replace Meirelles at the CB, and Miriam Belchior becomes Planning Minister. An announcement may come later today.
Here’s a brief note on each of them, just in case this becomes the actual lineup. Remember: former FM Palocci and current Planning minister Bernardo have been tipped for close advisory roles to the new president.
– Alexandre Tombini, 47, an Illinois PhD economist, has been almost 20 years in the civil service, initially in trade policy. He joined the CB in 1998, first in Supervision as liaison officer with the BIS and the World Bank. He then moved to Research as division chief, just when the inflation-targeting field program was being rolled out.
He subsequently spent five years at the IMF in Washington, returning to the CB as Director of Special Studies. After a brief stint as Director of International Affairs, he became Director of Regulation, a job he’s held since 2006.
Years at the CB turned Tombini into an experienced policymaker. He’s particularly familiar with prudential rules (bank reserves, leverage rules, capital ratios etc). If he becomes CB governor, we should expect Tombini to resort to interest rates as needed to anchor inflation expectations.
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