Brazil Names Guilherme Mello Planning Ministry’s No. 2 as Débora Freire Takes Economic Policy Post

Overview

• The government said Guilherme Mello will leave the Finance Ministry’s economic policy post to become executive secretary of the Ministry of Planning and Budget, a top operational role under new minister Bruno Moretti.
• Débora Freire, now undersecretary for fiscal policy, will lead the Finance Ministry’s Secretariat of Economic Policy, becoming the first woman to head the unit that crafts the ministry’s core economic analysis.
• A government note reported Mello will also chair Petrobras’ board of directors, taking the seat previously linked to Moretti as he moved to head the Planning Ministry.
• With the reshuffle, the earlier idea of sending Mello to the Central Bank board, floated in February by then–finance minister Fernando Haddad, is no longer on the table.
• The changes follow Simone Tebet’s exit from the Planning Ministry to run for the Senate in São Paulo, and the government says the new lineup will improve day‑to‑day coordination of planning, budget, and economic policy.