New Brazil finance minister to tackle pension, labor reform

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil’s new finance minister said Friday that he’ll tackle pension reform and labor law reform, signaling potentially sensitive changes for a sputtering economy a day after President Dilma Rousseff was suspended.

Henrique Meirelles is the key member of the Cabinet assembled by interim President Michel Temer, who has vowed to focus on pulling Brazil out of its worst recession since the 1930s.

Meirelles told a news conference that he would work on reforms of a costly pension system that allows many people to retire in their 50s.

Temer gathered his new team at the government headquarters following a chaotic day that saw the Senate vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, suspending her from office and abruptly ousting nearly her entire government — a move she branded “a coup.”

First of all, we need to balance our public spending.

“People expected brilliant Brazilians and they got a mediocre group of politicians, mostly little-known congressmen,” said Francisco Fonseca, a political scientist at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas think tank.