Brazil's New Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa Aims to Remedy Country's Economic Woes

Brazil's new finance minister, Nelson Barbosa, has a lot on his plate. The country's economy is said to be its worst in over eight decades, and now Barbosa says that he aims to remedy Brazil's swollen budget.

In a report with Wall Street Journal, the finance minister said that the best way to solve the country's inflation and recession was to fix Brazil's swollen budget. Barbosa is confident that once Brazil improves its fiscal situation, foreign investments in the country will start to increase. Should this happen, the finance minister said that economic growth will resume, albeit at a slow and steady rate.

He did admit, however, that Brazil's fiscal improvement and overall financial future would entirely depend on Congress, which continues to remain hostile towards President Dilma Rousseff. The finance minister admitted that the biggest challenge Brazil faces is the fiscal one, and that all politicians "understand its importance."

Many of Barbosa's critics think that the new finance minister's ambitions may be too high. The new finance minister replaced Joaquim Levy last month. Levy, who was called the "fiscal hawk," found his efforts to control Brazil's deficit impeded by Congress, which caused him to ultimately leave his post.

Despite the harsh criticism of Barbosa, there are some analysts who believe that Barbosa's approach to remedy the country's economy would be more strategic than Levy's, as Barbosa seems to have better knowledge of navigating Brazil's cutthroat political system.

Political analyst Thiago de Aragão said that Barbosa seems to understand "how both the administration and the PT like to receive news."

Barbosa was the second-in-command of Rousseff's first finance minister, Guido Mantega. Barbosa was eventually seen as a moderate voice who took a great risk to protect the country's economic growth.

When Brazil's economy took a turn for the worst, it became apparent that Mantega wouldn't stay in his post during Rousseff's second term, so she chose Levy, a conservative economist. Barbosa, who is said to be close to the president was a number two candidate for Rousseff's economic team as planning minister.

Barbosa and Mantega constantly argued over fiscal targets, with the former favoring less stringent goals. The new finance minister hopes to boost national revenue by persuading lawmakers to approve a controversial tax on all financial transactions. He said that this was something that is key to balancing the books.

Forbes says that Brazil is currently facing its worst economy since the 1930s and this year looks to be no different.