Brazilian Finance Minister cancels participation in G20 at last minute

Brazil's Minister of Finance Joaquim Levy hastily cancelled his participation at the G20 Summit starting Thursday in Turkey, where all the finance ministers from the top 20 economies in the world gathered to have a meeting.

According to the state news service, Agencia Brasil, Levy remained in Brazil to meet with President Dilma Rousseff and Minister of Planning Nelson Barbosa.

Speculation has been rife in recent days that Levy may soon leave the position, which he has held since Jan. 1, 2015.

Levy has been the driving force behind a tough fiscal reform which will force the government to balance public accounts by cutting spending and increasing taxes.

Though he will not attend the G20 summit, Levy is still scheduled to visit Spain and France next week, to meet with entrepreneurs and to participate in an OECD meeting to be held in Paris, according to the news service. Enditem