Brazil’s Lula offers planning ministry to centrist senator Tebet

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has invited centrist Senator Simone Tebet to be his planning minister, a close Lula aide said on Tuesday.

Future Institutional Affairs Minister Alexandre Padilha said in a press conference Tebet had not yet formally accepted, but noted that her party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement, had given a “positive signal.”

Finding a place for Tebet in his cabinet has been one of the key challenges facing Lula in recent weeks as he builds his team ahead of a Jan. 1 inauguration, with nearly half of the incoming ministers yet to be announced.

So far he has mainly appointed members of his Workers Party to important cabinet positions, leaving out allies who had backed his election.

Tebet backed Lula over far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro after ditching her own presidential bid when she failed to make the run-off. Her support was seen as crucial for Lula’s narrow victory, helping him secure moderate votes in the second round.

The planning minister job was first offered to economist Andre Lara Resende, a member of Lula’s transition team, but he declined.

Investors had expected a market-friendly person to get the position, but markets will welcome Tebet, said analyst Lucas de Aragao of Arko Advice consultancy in Brasilia.

“She is very moderate and has backed all recent reforms in recent years, from pension reform and labor laws to central bank autonomy,” he said.

On Monday, incoming Finance Minister Fernando Haddad, a leader in Lula’s PT party, said there would be no problems working with Tebet, whom he called “very qualified” and “someone who knows how to work in a team.”

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu, additional reporting by Anthony Boadle;Editing by Peter Graff and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)