Portugal’s New Premier Picks Sarmento as Finance Minister (1)

Portugal’s incoming prime minister picked Joaquim Miranda Sarmento as finance minister, putting him in charge of fiscal policy for a government without a majority that can ensure approval of budgets.

Miranda Sarmento, 45, is a finance professor in Lisbon and parliamentary leader of the PSD party who helped draft the center-right coalition’s electoral proposals. These included tax cuts for businesses and workers, which now need to be translated into an official budget for next year and approved by a fragmented parliament.

Joaquim Miranda Sarmento

Photographer: Henrique Casinhas/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Incoming Premier Luis Montenegro and his new finance minister may be forced to compromise on key policies to ...