Brazil's Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles has postponed his plan to announce his economic team on Monday, including the next central bank chief, the ministry's press office said. Shortly after taking office on Thursday, Meirelles, a former central bank chief widely respected in Wall Street, promised to unveil the appointments by Monday and announce tough measures to regain trust from investors in a timely fashion.
Interim President Michel Temer, who replaced President Dilma Rousseff last week after she was suspended by the Senate to stand trial for breaking fiscal rules, picked Meirelles to revive an economy mired in one of its worst recessions in memory. Later on Monday both will meet with union leaders to discuss a controversial pension and labor reform aimed at closing a widening fiscal gap that cost Brazil its coveted investment grade rating last year.
Meirelles' press office did not explain why the announcement for the new team was delayed. Temer's chief of staff, Eliseu Padilha, told Reuters last week that Meirelles was considering former central bank directors Ilan Goldfajn and Mario Mesquita and ex-treasury chief Carlos Kawall to lead the central bank. The bank's current president, Alexandre Tombini, could stay on the job until the bank's next rate-setting meeting on June 8, according to Temer's press office. Meirelles has said his top priority was to return transparency to public finances.