Brazil: Harvard Professor and Central Bank Chief Leave Lula’s Administration

Lula and Mangabeira Unger Brazil's presidential advisor Roberto Mangabeira Unger and the chief of the Brazilian Central Bank (BC), Henrique Meirelles, will be leaving the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's administration in the coming months. Unger, who was US president Obama's professor, is returning to his post in Harvard University. Meirelles intends to run for governor of Goiás state, in the Brazilian Midwest.

Both have played crucial roles in Lula's government. The Brazilian president confirmed this Monday, June 29, that Mangabeira Unger will resume his teaching career at Harvard University.

Press reports in recent days indicated that Mangabeira Unger was likely to resign his post advising President Lula da Silva on long-term economic planning. Under Harvard University rules, Mangabeira Unger was eligible for a leave-of-absence of no more than two years. The two-year period lapses in August.

Since 2007, Mangabeira Unger has been advising Lula on issues such as long-term energy and food security, foreign trade and investment. A Brazilian citizen, author and sometimes political activist, Mangabeira Unger is a tenured professor at Harvard Law School.

Meantime the Brazilian financial magazine Valor Econômico reported in its latest edition that Brazilian Central Bank President Henrique Meirelles will leave his post in March to run for governor of the farm state of Goiás. Allegedly Lula has already authorized Meirelles's departure for March, the newspaper reported, citing a close adviser presidential source.

Meirelles assumed the central bank presidency in January 2003, after more than a decade serving in key posts at BankBoston and enjoying a high degree of prestige among both domestic and international financial market participants.

Meirelles was appointed to the central bank post by Lula and is the only central bank president to serve under his administration. As a respected international banker, Meirelles played a crucial role in alleviating market fears that the Lula administration would take a populist outlook in economic policy.

Under Meirelles' orthodox tenure, Brazil's central bank has gradually cut the benchmark Selic interest rate to its lowest level ever, 9.25%, while inflation remains under control. When Meirelles assumed the post, the Selic rate was 25%.

In the meantime, inflation, which reached 9.3% in 2003, last year ended at 5.9% and is expected to dip below 5% this year.

Mercopress

Tags:

You May Also Like

By Law Underwear in Brazil Will Have Warning Labels and Sex Advice

After more than a decade of debate, a proposal that has been in the ...

Bloomberg’s ‘Deadly Brew’ Report Infuriates Brazil’s Sugarcane Industry

For UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, a report aired on Bloomberg Television on ...

Jobs Grow 3.65% in First Half, in Sí£o Paulo, Brazil

The level of employment in the industrial sector in the state of São Paulo ...

It’s the law

After 22 years of discussion, the Brazilian senate has approved a new civil code. ...

Brazil Arrests Suspected Murder of US Nun, Charges Him with Land Grabbing

A Brazilian  rancher suspected of the murder of rainforest activist Dorothy Stang, an American ...

Brazil Takes Its Profit and Runs

Latin American markets ebbed across the board, as investors cashed in on recent gains. ...

Up and Coming

Yes, there are prosperous and even rich Brazilian blacks. And they are not just ...

Brazilian neurosurgeon Luiz Pimenta

Brazilian Neurosurgeon Performs World’s First Posterior Disc Replacement

In a milestone in the treatment of spine disease, Drs. Luiz Pimenta and Paul ...

Lula raises his Nehru award in India

Brazil and India to Quadruple Bilateral Trade to US$ 10 Billion by 2010

Brazil, which aspires to a permanent seat in a future expanded UN Security Council ...

Brazil and Paraguay Try to Solve Border Issues

Representatives of the Brazilian and the Paraguayan governments intensified negotiations to put an end ...