Haddad considers keeping the Bolsonaro government’s nominee at the IMF – 10/16/2023 – Market

Minister Fernando Haddad (Finance) is considering keeping economist Afonso Bevilaqua as Brazil’s representative at the IMF (International Monetary Fund). The director’s permanence at the institution is defended by the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto.

According to reports made to SheetHaddad analyzes the suggestion, and some representatives of the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) already take it for granted that Bevilaqua will remain in the body — where he serves as executive director of Brazil.

The possibility began to be discussed at the beginning of last week among members of the Executive and caused surprise and even irritation among PT allies.

The assessment is that the position at the IMF is a noble position, for which numerous government allies are qualified. For this wing, it makes no sense for the Lula government to keep in post an economist who was appointed by the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

Bevilaqua has already become the target of complaints in the current government after the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, complained to Lula, in April, about Brazil’s lack of support for the renegotiation that the neighboring country was seeking with the fund.

At the time, according to reports from people familiar with the conversations, Argentina sent the message that the Brazilian director was being one of the most rigorous in terms of demands and conditions, an unexpected stance by the neighboring country.

Still according to the reports, it was in this context that Campos Neto began to defend Bevilaqua’s name at the IMF, assuming the position of enthusiast for his stay.

Since then, the IMF director and Haddad have had four meetings, according to the Finance Minister’s public agenda.

The first of them was on May 15th, just between the two of them. The second occurred two days later, in a meeting between Haddad and the IMF’s first deputy managing director, Gita Gopinath.

He was also with the Minister of Finance on September 6, at the ministry’s office in São Paulo, according to the official agenda. The economist also participated in a videoconference on October 4th with the Brazilian economic team and members of the Spanish government.

Bevilaqua took up the post in 2019, succeeding Alexandre Tombini — who joined the position in 2016, after serving as president of the BC under Dilma Rousseff (PT).

Between 2020 and 2021, he worked to alleviate differences between the Brazilian government and the fund.

The then Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, disagreed with the institution’s projections for the performance of the local economy and formally dismissed the entity’s work in the country, which had maintained an office in Brazil since 1999.

The economist comes from a military family with a strong presence in Brazilian politics. Among his direct ancestors are Benjamin Constant, one of the founders of the Republic. His grandfather, also an officer, Peri Constant Bevilaqua, defended João Goulart’s inauguration in the so-called Legality Campaign in 1961. After the 1964 coup, he joined the MDB and worked in favor of amnesty for political prisoners and exiles.

In the past, Bevilaqua did not have a good relationship with the Lula government.

He was director of Economic Policy at the Central Bank from 2003 to 2007 and, during this period, became a symbol of conservatism in the decisions of the Copom (Monetary Policy Committee). He left office citing personal reasons but under criticism.

At the time, members of the government called for a faster reduction in the basic interest rate, then at 13% per year — a level similar to the current one.

The then president of the Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles, delayed his departure, arguing that no one would stay at the BC forever. Interestingly, one of Bevilaqua’s critics at the time was Paulo Nogueira Batista Jr., an economist who had been appointed to the executive board of the IMF.

The fund’s executive board has 24 directors. Occupants are elected by member countries or groups of countries. She is responsible for the institution’s daily agenda.