The complex fine-tuning of economic governance in Lula’s new term

President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he will have an increased 37 seats in his soon-to-be-inaugurated cabinet. There are some familiar ministries returning — such as Planning, Human Rights, and Culture — but among the novelties is the Management and Innovation in Public Service Ministry, to be led by economist Ester Dweck. 

With a central responsibility that usually falls to the Planning Ministry — executing the budget related to the functioning of public institutions — Ms. Dweck could be a new element in the federal arrangement. She can alternate with the Finance and Planning Ministries in managing the government’s “back office,” creating a power triangle that is complex but full of opportunities on the administrative front.

Ms. Dweck was the head economic advisor at the Planning Ministry during Dilma Rousseff’s first term (2011-2014). During her second term, Ms. Dweck held two positions: budget secretary until March 2016 and deputy head of analysis and monitoring of government policies, which operated within the president’s office, until May of that year (a month before Congress impeached Ms. Rousseff). 

“It is not clear what the attributions...