Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced at a press conference held in Brasilia that the former mayor of Sao Paulo, Fernando Haddad, who was close to him, was named Minister of Finance, despite the business community’s dissatisfaction with him.

He announced the names of four other ministers: Mauro Vieira for Foreign Affairs, Flavio Dino for Justice, Jose Monterra for Defense and Rui Costa for Presidential Affairs.

Fernando Haddad, 59, of Lebanese descent, previously assumed the education portfolio from 2005 to 2012, and he succeeds the liberal Paulo Guidish, who has contradictory tendencies, and who held the portfolio during the term of the outgoing president, Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right.

In the upcoming Lula government, which will assume its duties after his inauguration on January 1, this ministry will be divided into three ministries: the first is for finance, which is handled by Haddad, the second is for planning, and the third is for industry, provided that the other two ministries are assumed by two other people whose names will be announced later. And when he started trading behind the scenes in the name of the former mayor of São Paulo (2013-2016), the markets showed some tension due to his leftist leanings and the fear that he would jeopardize the balance of the state budget.

Source: National News Agency