Brazil's Finance Minister Acts While Keeping an Eye on the 2018 Political Game

07/24/2017 - 09h13

Although he is dispirited by what his friends call the "JBS cost," Brazil's Minister of Finance, Henrique Meirelles, has acted discretely as he hopes that a set of factors will put him in the succession game to become the country's president in 2018.

As he became the leader of the "dream team" that the market was expecting in the economic area after the debacle of the Dilma Rousseff administration, in May 2016 Meirelles earned the potential to become president.

The approval of measures such as the ceiling for expenditure and the fast pace of the labor and public social security reforms in the congress added to a series of indicators at the beginning of 2017 that point to the end of the recession cycle and a sharp decline in inflation - a combination of economic factors, Central Bank interventions and the ongoing crisis itself.

As the leader of the team, Meirelles has gained a trump card. In April, the expectation was that the country would begin the year growing at an approximate rate of 3%, and there was hope that the all time high unemployment rate would begin to recede.

A former banker and member of right-wing party PSDB, Meirelles became ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's leader for eight years as he led the country's Central Bank. He is now a member of the PSD and his name was mentioned in every conversation between businessmen about 2108, although he is still seen as a technocrat.

Meirelles has been moving his pieces on the board. He became closer to the country's biggest evangelical group, Assembleia de Deus. He participated in two major meetings with church ministers in June and July. His allies have interpreted these actions as a search for political support.

The leader of the PSD, Communications Minister Gilberto Kassab, as well as Meirelles himself, did not want to give interviews; however Kassab has told allies that if the party were to have a candidate in the 2018 presidential election, he would be Meirelles.

The PSD denies Merielles has taken any actions without the consent of President Temer.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

Read the article in the original language

	Paulo Whitaker/REUTERS
	Brazil's Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles speaks at a lunch meeting with bankers in Sao Paulo