Brazil to nominate ex-central bank governor Goldfajn for top IDB job -source

By Marcela Ayres

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil plans to nominate former central bank governor Ilan Goldfajn to head the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a person familiar with the matter said on Sunday, as Latin America’s largest economy seeks to secure its first presidency of the institution.

The development bank will elect its next president on Nov. 20 after the ouster of Mauricio Claver-Carone in an ethics scandal.

Currently head of the International Monetary Fund’s Western Hemisphere department, Goldfajn led Brazil’s central bank under former President Michel Temer, before handing the reins to current chief Roberto Campos Neto in February 2019.

Goldfajn was recognized for his focus on controlling inflation and efforts to reform banking regulations that opened the door to greater competition in the Brazilian financial system.   

Under Goldfajn’s tenure, the central bank began developing its Pix instant payment platform, which was launched under Campos Neto. The platform has been a massive success in the country, winning international plaudits.   

After leaving the central bank, Goldfajn chaired the board of Credit Suisse in Brazil before joining the IMF.   

During IMF meetings in Washington, Brazil’s government began drumming up support for its nominee.  

Brazil is pushing the IDB, a major investor in Latin America and the Caribbean, to finance transnational infrastructures to support more exports from the region.    

The United States, which nominated Claver-Carone, has said it will not make a new nomination. Mexico has already announced that it plans to nominate Alicia Barcena, the former head of the United Nation’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

(Reporting by Marcela Ayres; editing by Brad Haynes, Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Shumaker)