Aécio's "Minister," Armínio, signals support for Marina.

247 - Armínio Fraga, head of the economic team for presidential candidate Aécio Neves (PSDB), who was chosen by the candidate as his Minister of Finance should he be elected, believes that "it is clearly not easy" for his candidate to reach the second round. He says that in this final stretch, "Aécio is trying to differentiate himself from Marina," but with a "very different posture from that of the PT, which is even truculent." Armínio says that "generally speaking," there are no differences in the economic policies advocated by Marina Silva (PSB) and Aécio. In a second round between President Dilma Rousseff and Marina, the economist declares that he will vote for the former PT member.

Interviewed by the newspaper O Globo, Armínio Fraga states that the electoral environment hinders economic debate, which leaves him "disgusted." "The populist temptation is enormous. This needs to be addressed somehow. But what hinders progress is populism, not the elections, which are a glorious moment for democracy. Please note this because, with the level of falsehood in this debate today, the little that came close to me disgusted me."

He thinks Aécio should try to dismantle the PT's arguments against the independence of the Central Bank. I don't think he even tried. It's absurd what they did to attack Marina, who spoke of an independent Central Bank, but certainly thinking of the model of autonomy, like a government agency," he says. He states that he has always defended "operational autonomy of the Central Bank as a good model." "Low inflation is a public good. Aécio has already made it clear that he will, right from the start, give the Central Bank autonomy to pursue a long-term goal that he will determine," he emphasizes.