Zélia Cardoso de Mello

Zélia Cardoso de Mello (São Paulo, b. September 20, 1953 in São Paulo) served as Brazil's Minister of Economy under Fernando Collor de Mello. She was married to Brazilian comedian Chico Anysio, with whom she has two children, Rodrigo and Vitória. The couple divorced in 1998.

Zélia Cardoso de Mello worked in the academic, public and private sectors in Brazil. Her political career began in 1986 when Dilson Funaro, the Minister of Finance of Brazil, invited her to join his "Economic Advisory Team" as Director of the National Treasure Dept. In 1990 Cardoso de Mello was appointed the National Minister of Economy, Finance and Planning of Brazil under president Fernando Collor de Mello.

In 1995 she moved to New York and became a visiting scholar at the "Institute of Latin America and Iberian Studies" at Columbia University. Since 1998, Cardoso de Mello has served executive positions at several major financial advisory companies focused on Brazil, including Global Accessinvestments, Orix and Lily Pond Capital. Her academic career was entirely accomplished in the School of Business and Economics at the University of São Paulo, where she received her college degree, Ph.D., and served as university professor. She is currently a partner at New York-based Aquila Associates.

Finance Minister

As minister, Zélia was responsible for the implementation of the "Plano Collor", which combined fiscal and trade liberalization with radical inflation stabilization measures.Welch, John H. Birch, Melissa. Smith, Russell. [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/hlas/ss53econ-birch.html ECONOMICS: BRAZIL] . Library of Congress. December 30, 2004. Retrieved on September 8, 2007.] . A monetarist inflation stabilization was coupled with an industrial and foreign trade reform program, the "Industrial and Foreign Trade Policy" (English: "Política Industrial e de Comércio Exterior"), better known as PICE, and a privatization program dubbed the "National Privatization Program" (Portuguese: "Programa Nacional de Desestatização"), better known as the PND. The PICE was geared towards opening the Brazilian marketing to foreign competition while simultaneously fostering domestic innovation,Villela, Anibal. [http://www.ipea.gov.br/pub/livros/anibal/Parte%202/12_The%20Collor%20Plan.pdf The Collor Plan and the Industrial and Foreign Trade Policy] . Institute of Applied Economic Research. 1997. Retrieved September 8, 2007.] whereas the PND was the first large-scale privatization program in Brazil, generating nearly US$4 billion for the government and privatizing 18 different state-owned enterprises. [http://www.bndes.gov.br/privatizacao/resultados/historico/history.asp BNDES: Histórico do PND] . BNDES. December 31, 2002. Retrieved September 9, 2007.]

Plano Collor policies [ [http://www.collor.com/didyouknow.aspDid you know] ]

Collor's official website credits the following as some of his administration's accomplishments while in power:
*Ended the moratorium on Brazil's $ 115 billion dollars foreign debt and began repayment negotiations.
*Abolished restrictions on nearly 800 specific imports
*Established a tariff reduction schedule
*Abolished price and wage indexes
*Signed the Assunción Treaty with Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina to create Mercosur- a common market for South America.
*Began privatization of more than 70 government-run companies.
*Decreased the government payroll
*Decreased the fiscal deficit
*Created a monthly budgetary surplus

s-ttl|title=Ministry of Finance (Brazil)
years=March 15, 1990 - May 10, 1991

References

External links

* [http://www.collor.com/collorplan.asp Collor´s Official web site The "Collor Plan"]
* [http://www.terra.com.br/istoedinheiro/475/economia/zelia_esta_voltando.htm Interview to Revista "Isto é Dinheiro" (Portuguese)]
* [http://www.bovespa.com.br/InstSites/RevistaBovespa/101/Privatizacao.shtml The good results of privatization, "Revista Bovespa" (Portuguese)]
* [http://www.bovespa.com.br/InstSites/RevistaBovespa/101/Mulheres.shtml#01 Women in action, "Revista Bovespa" (Portuguese)]

ee also

* Plano Collor
* Fernando Collor de Mello

Bibliography

* Joseph A. Page (1995), "The Brazilians". Da Capo Press. ISBN 0201441918.
* [http://www.fazenda.gov.br/portugues/institucional/ministros/rep081.asp Government biography] (Portuguese language). Accessed August 15, 2005.
* [http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Epoca/0,6993,EPT380698-1664-1,00.html Época magazine story] (Portuguese language). Accessed August 15, 2005.