SA Panel: Vice de Doria probes economist Felipe Salto to replace Meirelles

With only a few days to go before Henrique Meirelles leaves the Secretary of Finance of the João Doria government to run for the Senate for Goiás, vice-president Rodrigo Garcia has been talking to potential replacements for the chair.

Economist Felipe Salto, director of the IFI (Independent Fiscal Institution), is one of the names at the table, according to those who follow the matter.

Meirelles has already said that he leaves at the end of February, but it has not been easy to find someone to fill the vacancy. Treated with deference by the government, the ex-minister and ex-president of the Central Bank was chosen by Doria at the beginning of his term as a visiting card in the incursions of São Paulo in search of investment. That’s why the race to keep a name of weight until the end of management.

Asked about Salto’s name instead of Meirelles, Doria says that it is not correct. The advice of Rodrigo Garcia and Felipe Salto did not comment.

Inside the government, there are doubts about Salto’s chance of accepting a buffer term. With the pass valued in the market, the economist is seen as a great name to assume management from the beginning. They also question whether he would have been willing to leave the leadership of the IFI months before the end of his term, which ends in November.

Joana Cunha with Andressa Motter and Ana Paula Branco