Brazil’s Finance Minister Fernando Haddad confirmed on Thursday (Dec. 18) that he intends to leave the government in February. At a coffee meeting with journalists on Thursday (18), he stated he intends to collaborate with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s reelection campaign in 2026 and that this would be incompatible with his current role.

Under Brazilian electoral law, ministers running in the 2026 elections have until April 3 of next year to leave office. Haddad, however, said he intends to leave earlier to give the next occupant time to prepare measures typical of the economic team at the beginning of each year.

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The minister would like his successor to prepare the first edition of the 2026 bimonthly revenue and expenditure report, a document that informs the execution of the budget, in March. He would also like to leave the 2027 budget guidelines bill to the future minister, which must be sent to Congress by April 15 of next year.

Haddad said he has already communicated his desire to President Lula and did not respond when asked if he intends to run for office next year.

“First, I expressed my desire to collaborate with President Lula’s campaign. And that is incompatible with the requirements of the Finance Ministry. There is no way to collaborate with the [2026 election] campaign while serving as finance minister,” Haddad said.

“So it was in this sense that I spoke with the president, saying that if my request is granted in some way – so be a campaign collaborator in his bid for reelection – a change of leadership here would be important,” added the minister.

Haddad pointed out that he waited for the approval of the 2026 budget guidelines bill at the beginning of the month as well as the bill reducing tax incentives, approved on Wednesday (17) in the Senate, to formally communicate his decision.

“I was really careful in talking about my future after the [budget guidelines bill] was approved and after the measures needed to make sure the budget was consistent with the [bill] were approved. I was always worried that the [bill] and the budget had to be internally consistent so that the goals could be met,” he said.

The minister, who was formerly mayor of São Paulo, gave no clues about a possible candidacy in 2026. He only reported that President Lula told him he would respect the decision that “Haddad made or will make.”

A possible delay in signing the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU) may enable the conclusion of the treaty that has been under negotiation for more than two decades, said Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on Thursday (Dec. 18). More time is needed to reassure European farmers that they will not be negatively affected, he argued.

“It is worth insisting a little more on my perception. Because, first, there is no harm. There is no harm to Italian and French farmers. There is none,” the minister stated.

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The statement was made during an afternoon coffee break with journalists, before the European Commission officially announced the postponement of the agreement’s signing until January. France and Italy still face resistance from their farmers.

The agreement had been scheduled to be formalized this Saturday (20) during the Mercosur summit in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná state, but faced resistance from European countries, especially France and Italy, due to pressure from farmers opposed to the pact.

At the meeting with journalists, Haddad said he sent a message to French President Emmanuel Macron, highlighting that the agreement goes beyond the commercial aspect and has geopolitical relevance.

The minister pointed out there is no economic damage to French and Italian farmers, as the negotiated text provides safeguards. He attributed part of the resistance to the political exploitation of internal sensitivities. “This does not correspond to the content of the agreement,” he said. Haddad said that if Europeans need “a little time” to clarify the issue to the public, “it is worth waiting.”

Meloni

Earlier, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he had spoken by phone with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. According to Lula, she is not against the agreement, but faces internal political difficulties and has asked for up to a month to convince Italian farmers. “She asked for patience for a week, ten days, a month at most,” said the president.

Negotiated for over two decades, the Mercosur–EU agreement would create one of the largest free trade areas in the world – bringing together some 722 million consumers and a combined GDP of approximately USD 22 trillion.

The decline in inflation and the economic slowdown led the Brazilian Central Bank to leave interest rates unchanged. Unanimously, the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) kept the Selic rate, the economy’s benchmark interest rate, at 15 percent per year.

In a statement, Copom gave no indication of when it might begin to cut interest rates. As in its last meeting, it reiterated that the current scenario is marked by significant uncertainty, which requires caution in monetary policy, and that the bank’s strategy is to maintain the current Selic rate for an extended period.

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“The committee believes that the present strategy of maintaining the current interest rate for a prolonged period is appropriate to ensure that inflation converges with the target. The committee emphasizes that it will remain vigilant, that future monetary policy steps may be adjusted, and that, as usual, it will not hesitate to resume the adjustment cycle if it deems it appropriate,” the statement said.

This is the fourth consecutive meeting in which Copom has kept the basic interest rate unchanged. The rate is at its highest level since July 2006, when it stood at 15.25 percent per year. The Selic rate reached 15 percent per year at the June meeting and has remained at that level since.

Inflation

The Selic rate is the Central Bank’s main tool for curbing Brazil’s official inflation, as gauged by consumer price index IPCA. In November, it stood at 0.18 percent, the lowest level for the month since 2018. With this result, the index has accumulated a 4.46 percent increase over 12 months, returning to within the ceiling of the continuous inflation target.

Under the new continuous target system, in effect since January, the inflation target to be pursued by the Central Bank, as defined by the National Monetary Council, is 3 percent, with a tolerance interval of 1.5 percentage points above or below. In other words, the lower limit is 1.5 percent and the upper limit is 4.5 percent.

In this model, the target is calculated monthly based on the accumulated inflation over the previous 12 months.

The basic interest rate is applied in government bond trading through the Special Settlement and Custody System (Selic) and serves as a benchmark for other interest rates in the economy.