Quoted to take over the Ministry of Finance, the former mayor of São Paulo Fernando Haddad (PT) will join the technical group of economics in the transition at the invitation of the president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), starting this Tuesday. fair (29).
The group currently has four coordinators: economists Persio Arida, André Lara Resende, Guilherme Mello and Nelson Barbosa. One of the team’s tasks is to make a diagnosis of the economic situation and present possible suggestions for action.
“I myself will join the group of economists from tomorrow [terça, 29]🇧🇷 Starting tomorrow, I’m going to meet some of them to take ownership of these matters,” said Haddad as he left the CCBB (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil), headquarters of the transitional government, in Brasília.
In the coming days, he said he should meet with Mello and Barbosa, in addition to having breakfast with Gabriel Galípolo, quoted to chair the BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development). “The president asked me to accompany the economy group”, he reaffirmed.
Haddad reinforced that he was not invited to take over the Ministry of Finance, although his entry into the group has been seen by allies as a strong sign that he may be Lula’s choice for the position.
“I was invited exclusively to interact with the economy group. I didn’t receive any other invitation”, he said.
Haddad left with Lula for Brasília on Sunday night (27). This Monday, he spent the day in the office of the president-elect at the CCBB, participating in meetings, such as the meeting with MDB leaders.
In the midst of these agendas, Lula formally invited the former mayor to join the economy group.
Haddad had already been holding talks with representatives of the financial market and, on Friday (25), represented Lula in a meeting with members of Febraban (Brazilian Federation of Banks), an entity that brings together the main banks in the country. The lunch is organized annually by the entity, and functioned as a kind of test of the former mayor with the financial sector, which resists his name.
According to reports, after lunch at Febraban, Lula told Haddad that he should talk to the technical team of economists. A meeting between them was scheduled for next Wednesday (30).
The initial forecast was that the former mayor would travel to Brasília to participate in this meeting. However, he anticipated boarding in response to a call from the president-elect.
Before being invited to join the economics group, the former mayor even maintained informal contacts with its members on various topics, including the Transition PEC, a measure being negotiated by the elected government to increase spending on the new Bolsa Família, relieve the 2023 Budget and honoring Lula’s electoral promises such as a real increase in the minimum wage.
On Monday, he avoided commenting on the proposal, filed hours earlier with the forecast of withdrawing Bolsa Família from the spending ceiling — a fiscal rule that limits the growth of expenses to the variation in inflation.
“I am not going to issue an opinion because I am going to meet from tomorrow with some members of the economics group, and obviously, as it is a decision that is up to the government that will compose its team, I am here as a collaborator”, stated.
He also said that the elected government will still take a position on team composition. “It has to go through the proper protocols, because whoever will command the Ministry, who will be invited by President Lula, will effectively take ownership of this issue, which is a transitory issue that the economic team will have to face”, he said.
Haddad, who was also Minister of Education, combines two important characteristics for Lula: affinity and trust. For this reason, he has also been mentioned as a possible minister of other relevant ministries, such as Itamaraty, Education and Planning.
The former mayor was Lula’s replacement in the 2018 election campaign, when the now president-elect was barred from being a candidate. Recalling that moment, he said in an interview with the Reuters agency that the former president would have chosen him as Minister of Finance in case of victory in the dispute. “This is not known, but before I was invited to be Lula’s deputy, I was invited by him to be finance minister,” said Haddad.
As shown to Sheet, the PT wants to form a partnership between Haddad and Persio Arida in charge of the economic area, in order to keep the party at the forefront of strategic decisions, but making room for the influence of a liberal economist in the formulation of public policies. Arida, however, told Sheet who has no intention of taking office in Brasilia.
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