Former finance minister Ernane Galvêas died this Thursday (23), aged 99, in Rio de Janeiro. He was also president of the Central Bank and was an economic advisor to the CNC (National Confederation of Commerce).
Born in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (ES) on October 1, 1922, Galvêas graduated in accounting, economics and law. He took extension courses at the Wisconsin Institute of Economics, in the United States, and at the Latin American Monetary Center, in Mexico City. He had a Masters in Economics from Yale (USA).
The former minister joined Banco do Brasil in 1942, was deputy head of the Economic Department of Sumoc (Superintendence of Currency and Credit) and economic advisor to the then Ministry of Finance in the 1960s.
He was also president of the Central Bank of Brazil for two periods, from 1968 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1980.
According to the publication “História Contada do Banco Central do Brasil”, in Galvêas’ view, despite Brazil having experienced the economic miracle in the early 1970s, the official disorganization of education in the country was the main factor responsible for the worsening of the distribution of relative income in the period.
After his first period as president of the Central Bank, in March 1974, Galvêas entered the private sector as president of Aracruz Celulose.
He held the position of Minister of Finance at the end of the military dictatorship, during the government of General João Baptista de Figueiredo, from January 1980 to March 1985. In that decade, the country would witness one of the most turbulent economic periods in its history, marked by hyperinflation, which would only be controlled later, with the Plano Real.
During his stints in government, the country also faced a global recession, an oil crisis, escalating interest rates and a balance of payments crisis, having been a contemporary of Antônio Delfim Netto (former Minister of Finance, Agriculture and Planning) in the government.
“It was the most difficult period in Brazil’s economic history. It was almost a miracle to have gone through the period with only a slight recession in the years 1981 and 1983. This represented a minimum price for those who had to face all the aggressions from the external area. , internal problems, and managed to close 1984 with US$ 27 billion in exports, US$ 13 billion in trade balance and US$ 8 billion in reserves, and the economy growing at almost 6% per year. at the expense of 200% inflation,” he told the BC publication.
He was also a member of the Board of Directors of Fundação Getulio Vargas, of the International Academy of Law and Economics and honorary president of the AEB (Association of Foreign Trade of Brazil).
“The country loses a reference not only in the economic area, but a humanist of the first magnitude, of an admirable intellectual stature”, lamented the president of CNC, José Roberto Tadros, in a note.
“With his knowledge, his experience and his wisdom, he helped CNC and Brazil to be bigger. Personally, I have lost a great friend, whose coexistence has always been marked by affection, respect and admiration.”
The former minister leaves two children, two granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.
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