Bolsonaro Plans to Reduce Staff in Brazil’s Ministries by 30 Percent

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – During a press conference in the Superior Military Court yesterday (November 13th), President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said that he intends to reduce the number of staff commissioned in the Executive arm of the government by thirty percent.

Bolsonaro acknowledged the importance of politically appointed servants, but said ministries are ‘overkill’, and stated, “At least thirty percent we’ll cut, at least.”

Adding, “I’ve been a deputy and councilman for thirty years with commissioners on my side. [They] are important. But I agree that there is an exaggeration in the number of commissioners in the ministries. We want to reduce and put people committed to other values ​​inside”.

After announcing that the names for the Foreign Relations and Environment ministries will be announced later this week, the president-elect said that the profile of the person in the post should be from someone in the area who has no ideological bias.

“To trade with the whole world, without ideological bias. [It] does not matter from one side or the other. [It will] be a person who really has a lot of initiative. That’s what we want,” said Bolsanaro.

Yesterday Bolsanaro announced Army General Fernando Azevedo e Silva as Defense Minister, the sixth minister named so far. The other are; Augusto Heleno (Institutional Security); Marcos Pontes (Science and Technology); Paulo Guedes (Economics); Sérgio Moro (Justice and Public Security); and Tereza Cristina (Agriculture).

In the current government there are 29 ministries, but the president-elect has already said he intends to reduce the number to fifteen.