Opinion – Vinicius Torres Freire: Find out who Haddad’s team could be at the Farm

The names of the secretaries of the Ministry of Finance will give strong clues as to what the actual economic program of the Lula 3 government should be. But the command and function of the Ministry of Planning will also be important. As the Minister appointed to Finance, Fernando Haddad, said, the formation of his team still depends on what will be done in Planning, which is still a big mystery. On Tuesday, Haddad gives an interview.

There are “sounded” names, according to guesses reported from Haddad’s surroundings and those “sounded”.

For the Farm, or perhaps for the Planning, you can go Bernardo Appy, Bernardo Guimarães (columnist of the Sheet), Marco Bonomo and Felipe Salto. Brief profiles of these economists follow below. Bonomo and Guimarães are renowned researchers, “standard economists” or, according to their simple-minded nickname “orthodox”.

It is said that the future minister would also like to take two names “from the market”, from people in the private sector, which may already have been defined, but kept in greater secrecy, so as not to affect the jobs of “quotado” _or “quotadas” “.

A name also cited is that of Gabriel Galípolo, 39, former president of Banco Fator, now a consultant and advisor to Fiesp. Galípolo won Lula’s sympathy during the campaign and accompanied him to dinners with businessmen. He has even been mentioned to the BNDES, but nobody knows where he would go.

From him, Lula liked to hear suggestions on how to encourage investment, in new combinations of incentives and (little) public money with private capital. He is close to Haddad. Marcos Cruz was Finance Secretary for São Paulo in Haddad City Hall (2013-16). An engineer from Unicamp with an MBA from Insead, France, he was a partner at McKinsey consulting. Those close to him say that Haddad would like to take him to his advisory office, but it is also not clear where. It could just be a kick in the “next” pool.

Two economists in the transition group, Nelson Barbosa and Guilherme Mello, must have posts—”something” must be offered to them. But they would not work directly with Haddad.

Barbosa was Dilma Rousseff’s Minister of Planning and Finance 2, among several other positions in the Lula and Dilma governments 1. He graduated in economics from UFRJ and received his doctorate from the New School (USA), a school nicknamed “heterodox”. Mello was one of the formulators of the economic program for Lula’s candidacy, he graduated in social sciences at USP and holds a doctorate in economics from Unicamp.

Names and functions would also be undefined because details of the distribution of functions between Finance, Planning and the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) are still lacking. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva should talk about the subject with the nominated minister Rui Costa (Civil House), Haddad and with Alckmin, who is well tuned in with Haddad.

Bernardo Appy was executive secretary of the finance ministry under Antonio Palocci and Guido Mantega from 2003 to 2008. He spent time as an adviser to Lula on tax reform. He was a director at BM&F Bovespa (now B3) and later a founder of the Centro de Cidadania Fiscal, a private study center dedicated to taxation.

He is the leader of the tax reform project that is in a more advanced situation in Congress, which should be taken forward by Haddad. He graduated in economics from USP and got a master’s degree from Unicamp.

Bernardo Guimarães is a professor at the São Paulo School of Economics, at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV EESP). He is a renowned macroeconomist, PhD from Yale University, former professor at the London School of Economics. His main subject of study involves the government’s most immediate problem: lasting balance of public accounts, in addition to monetary policy. He graduated in production engineering from USP, where he completed his master’s degree in economics. Started writing a column on this Sheet in November.

Marco Bonomo is professor of finance and monetary economics at Insper. He graduated and did a master’s degree in economics at PUC in Rio; he received a doctorate from Princeton University. He is well tipped to be Secretary of Economic Policy. Guimarães could work with him, although he is also cited for a post in Planning.

Felipe Salto has been the Secretary of Finance for the state of São Paulo since April 2022. In 2015 and 2016, he was economic advisor to Senator José Serra (PSDB). From 2016 to 2022, he was the first and until then only executive director of the Independent Fiscal Institution, linked to the Senate, responsible for independent fiscal studies.

He graduated and received a master’s degree in economics from FGV in São Paulo. He is close to Geraldo Alckmin, who has briefly and indirectly cited a Salto plan for a new method of containing public debt (the “new fiscal rule”, something that replaces the spending ceiling).