Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is expected to name Fernando Haddad, a loyalist from his leftwing Workers’ party, as finance minister on Friday, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.
The decision by Lula is likely to disappoint financial markets and reignite investor fears that his administration, which takes office on January 1, will pursue a looser fiscal policy.
The appointment of Haddad, a political-science professor who previously served as minister of education, would dash hopes among Brazil’s business community that Lula would pick a more market-friendly politician to steer Latin America’s largest country through what is expected to be a bumpy few years for the global economy.