Former Brazilian Planning Minister Nelson Barbosa replaced Joquin Levy as Finance Minister in President Dilma Rousseff’s Cabinet just a few hours ago. Levy resigned earlier after a series of disagreements with Rousseff over budget cuts and austerity measures. Barbosa is considered a leftist economist in much the same mold as Rousseff. He has been one of the strongest opponents of the aggressive austerity drive led by Levy in an attempt to regain the confidence of investors in an economy mired in its worst recession of the century. teleSUR