Brazilian new finance minister took office on Monday afternoon in Brasilia, with the responsibility of taking the country out of deep recession and ensuring economic growth.
The government announced last week that former Finance Minister Joaquim Levy would leave the administration, and his replacement is Nelson Barbosa, who previously served as planning and budget minister.
In the meantime, Valdir Simao will replace Barbosa at the Planning and Budget Ministry. In the inauguration ceremony, Rousseff, who is battling the opening of impeachment proceedings in Congress against her, thanked Levy for his efforts to carry out the fiscal adjustments and praised his dedication,despite his failure to achieve his goal of rebalancing the public finances.
"His dedication and efforts helped the fiscal regulations despite an environment of political crisis," Rousseff said. "Joaquim Levy revealed a great capacity of acting with serenity and efficiency even when under great pressure."
The President said ministers Barbosa and Simao now have the responsibility of convincing the Brazilian people that fiscal balance and economic growth can walk hand in hand, as well as ensuring the resumption of economic growth without resorting to sharp changes.
"They both have more than enough experience and competence. They know the public administration and participated in most priority projects we implemented over the past few years," Rousseff said.
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