Venezuela names new top economic official

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro confirmed Carlos Faria as the South American country’s economy chief on Wednesday after first appointing him as industry minister in a Cabinet shakeup last week.

While not much is known about the 53-yearold engineer other than the fact that his brother heads the ministry of foreign commerce and investment, Faria, has been praised by Maduro as a “young professional” and appears to hold the former Soviet Union, where he studied, in high regard.

“The Soviet Union was a highly self-sufficient country, and now Russia still maintains a high degree of knowledge,” Faria said in a statement after Maduro in 2015 appointed him to head a high level joint commission between Russia and Venezuela, according to state news agency AVN.

Little is known about his views, Francisco Rodriguez, chief economist at Torino Capital in New York, said in a note to clients on Monday, adding that his brother, Jesus Faria, was more pragmatic and moderate in his post as trade minister than other remaining members of Maduro’s economic Cabinet.

Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comments.