Ilan Goldfajn, former president of the Central Bank, was elected president of the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) this Sunday morning (20).

The IDB Board of Governors chose Goldfajn with 80.1% of the vote. It is the first time that a Brazilian will chair the institution, founded in 1959 and headquartered in Washington, USA.

The new president defeated four candidates: Nicolás Eyzaguirre Guzmán (Chile); Gerardo Esquivel Hernández (Mexico), Gerard Johnson, former IDB official nominated by Trinidad and Tobago; and Cecilia Todesca Bocco (Argentina), who withdrew from the election and received no votes.

Ilan Goldfajn was appointed as Central Bank President by then Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles under President Michel Temer (MDB). He took office in June 2016 and remained until 2019.

The withdrawal of the Argentine candidate increased the chances of victory. The Brazilian government expected to obtain 51% of the votes in the first round, one of the criteria for victory. And if it lacked the support of 15 of the 28 “borrowing” and “regional non-borrowing” member countries, a group that includes the United States and Canada, the hope was to prevail in the second round, sources say. that follow. behind the scenes of the elections in BID. These are the two criteria required for the candidate to be elected president of the institution

The Argentine press informs that the withdrawal of the country from the race for the post took place after many negotiations. And that now Casa Rosada seeks an agreement with the United States and Canada to support Brazil, in the figure of Goldfajn.

In October, the Ministry of Economy confirmed the nomination of Ilan Goldfajn to run for the top job.

Paul Guedes, Minister of the Economy, declared that the candidate combines “extensive and successful professional experience in the public sector, in multilateral organizations and in the private sector”. He also highlighted his “solid academic background”, which he says qualifies him for the job.

Ilan Goldfajn’s name has been the subject of political wrangling because of the opposition of a wing of the PT (Workers’ Party) after the victory of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) at the polls for the Presidency of the Republic

His campaign was hampered by an attempt by PT members to postpone the institution’s elections and buy time to designate a new name, with a profile more aligned with the party.

Who is Ilan Goldfajn. Born in Haifa (Israel) in 1966, Goldfajn moved to Rio de Janeiro at a very young age. He graduated in economics from the PUC-RJ (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro) and obtained a master’s degree in the same institution.

He combines passages to the IMF (International Monetary Fund) in the 1990s and to Itau Unibanco between 2009 and 2016, where he served as Chief Economist. He was a partner at Gávea Investimentos and also taught economics at PUC Rio de Janeiro in the early 2000s.

Before assuming the presidency of the BC, Ilan Goldfajn had already been the institution’s director of economic policy between 2000 and 2003.

With information from the State Agency