(Adds Kawall comments, Brazil debt ratings)
SAO PAULO, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Brazil’s Treasury Secretary Carlos Kawall, a former chief economist for Citigroup Inc. in the country, stepped down after nearly nine months at the post, the finance ministry said on Friday.
Tarcisio Jose Massote de Godoy, a deputy secretary in charge of fiscal policy at the treasury, will temporarily take over the post. Godoy, 42, is a 13-year veteran at the treasury and has degrees from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University.
Kawall, 45, was head of Brazil’s treasury since April, when he took over after a stint as president of the country’s national development bank BNDES. In a letter to Finance Minister Guido Mantega, Kawall said he left “for strictly personal reasons.”
“It is always possible that my departure may be interpreted as if there were some distancing between you and me, or between the government and me,” Kawall said in his resignation letter. “We know this interpretation is unfounded and untrue and it can only prosper in the minds of those who (even with all legitimacy) oppose the government,” he said.
Kawall said he supports the government’s main economic policies, including its fiscal and debt management, which should help improve Brazil’s debt ratings. He said the country should reach the much-coveted investment grade rating in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s next term.
Lula is due to be sworn into office on Jan. 1 for a second four-year term.
Brazil’s debt is rated BB by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings and Ba2 by Moody’s Investors Service, all of them two notches below investment grade.
S&P on Nov. 22 put Brazil’s long-term foreign debt rating on positive outlook, citing a decline in external debt and a healthy balance of payments.
((Reporting by Elzio Barreto, editing by Walker Simon; Reuters Messaging: elzio.barreto.reuters.com@reuters.net; Tel. +55 11 5644-7725)) Keywords: BRAZIL ECONOMY/TREASURY
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